
HEALTH 
CHATS 

WITH 

Young Readers 



/Its. M. A. B. KELLY 




8EC0NH OOPV, 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 



Chap. Copyright No. 

8helt.QLE.Bl 

— -tK3-- 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



• •i 




CIRCULATION OF THE BLOOD. 



Health Chats 



WITH YOUNG READERS 



Mrs. M. A. B, KELLY, 

Author of "A Volume of Poems" " Leaves from Nature' 's Story-Book," 
" Short Stories of Our Shy Neighbors" etc. 



EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHING COMPANY 
BOSTON 

New York Chicago San Francisco 



QP3y 



\$ 



29621 



Copyrighted 

Bv EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHING COMPANY, 

1898. 

TWGCUPifca DECEIVED, 









<- * iWtf*? 









PREFACE. 

This volume is in no wise # intended as a text-book upon the subjects of either 
Anatomy, Physiology, or Hygiene; on the contrary, it has been prepared expressly 
for supplementary reading. 

Furthermore, the nomenclature of the text-book proper is almost wholly 
omitted ; but it is hoped that the practical suggestions herein presented will arouse 
a spirit of enquiry that shall lead later on, to a careful study of the above men- 
tioned subjects; and should such be the result, the volume will have fulfilled its 
mission. 

For many years, the author has made a specialty of this department of instruc- 
tion; and the manifest enthusiasm of students pursuing this branch of study, has 
been a continual inspiration to renewed effort in getting at the best methods of its 
presentation. 

Finally, after devoting much time to careful observation among the schools of 
this country, as well as those of Europe, the author has become fully convinced that 
there is a demand for supplementary work of this kind. 

And this conviction has been materially strengthened by the favorably 
expressed opinions of many prominent educators, both at home and abroad, who 
are working along this line of study. 

For valuable aid, in the way of critical examination of various portions of the 
work, grateful acknowledgment is due to the following gentlemen of the medical 
profession: Dr. James Kraus (Sen.), Carlsbad, Austria; Dr. H. F. Biggar, Cleve- 
land, O.; Drs. A. Vander Veer, F. C. Curtis, C. S. Merrill, and C. M. Culver, 
Albany, N. Y.; and Drs. Geo. T. Stevens, W. E. Rounds, and Geo. Tucker 
Harrison, New York City. 

Among prominent educators, from whom many helpful suggestions have been 
received, are Dr. David E. Smith, Principal of State Normal School, Brockport, 
N. Y.; Dr. C. E. Beecher, Yale University, New Haven, Conn.; Dr. C. C. 
Blackshear, ^Yoman's College, Baltimore, Md., and Prof. Charles H. Peck, State 
Botanist, N. Y. 

And now, with the sincere hope that the little book may carry with it a goodly 
share of influence toward popularizing that very important command, " Man, know 
thyself," it is herewith submitted for the kindly acceptance of those for whom it 
was written. 

The Author. 
3 



SUGGESTIONS TO, TEACHERS. 

It will be observed that a list of words has been placed 
at the head of each subject, to be used as a blackboard 
exercise, before beginning the lesson. 

By this arrangement, the pupil will find no difficulty 
in mastering the new words that he meets, as he advances 
from topic to topic. 

But few technical terms are to be found throughout 
the work, and such as have been necessarily employed are 
defined in connection with the subject matter. 

It will be well now and then, to place brief statements 
from each chapter upon the blackboard, for the use of health- 
hints that are worth remembering. 

It is expected that the instructor will carefully examine 
each chapter before presenting it to the class ; and it is most 
sincerely hoped that the lessons herein contained may prove 
helpful to the teacher in the way of awakening the pupil's 
interest concerning a subject so important to us all. 



CONTENTS. 



Clara's Doll .... 

What is a Cell ? 

Curious Workshops. Part I. 

Curious Workshops. Part II. 

Inlets and Outlets 

Lung Food. Part I. 

Lung Food. Part II. 

A Strong Framework. Part I. 

A Strong Framework. Part II. 

A Strong Framework. Part III. 

Your House and Mine. Part I. 

Your House and Mine. Part II. 

The Tongue 

The Ear . 

The Nose 

The Skin. Part I. 

The Skin. Part II. 

The Eye Part I. 

The Eye. Part II. 

The Teeth 

The Hair 

The Nails 

Mineral Waters 

The Haunted House. 

The New House. Part I. 

The Hobgoblins. Part II. 



The Lesson. 



Part III. 



Page. 

7 
J 5 

21 

29 

37 
49 
55 
63 

72 

77 
85 
95 
104 
in 
120 
126 

*33 
142 

151 
J 59 
163 
166 
169 

177 
186 
196 




STATUE OF HERMES. 



(J. A. Delorme, Berlin.) 



Health Chats with Young Readers, 



waxen 
Primrose 
shapely 
difference 



CLARA'S DOLL. 

arrayed 
several 
excel 
make-believe 



requested 
weariness 
answered 
necessary 



I wish you could have seen it ! Such a 
beautiful waxen doll ! Clara gave her the 
name of Primrose, partly because there was 
such a deep flush upon her fair, round cheeks, 
and partly because her pretty red lips looked 
so very, very prim. 

She had soft, golden hair that fell about 
her face in long, glossy curls, and on either 
side of her shapely head, a tiny ear peeped out 
that looked ever so much like a small, pink 
sea-shell. 

7 



HEALTH CHATS. 



Her eyes, which were of a deep blue, 
were made to open and shut as if she were 
really and truly alive, and Clara did so wish 
that little Primrose could talk ! 

Her smooth, plump arms were jointed at 
the elbows, so that they could be easily bent ; 
and when she was seated in her own little 
chair, her limbs did not stick straight out 
from her body as the limbs of some dolls do ; 
for she had joints at the knees, by means of 
which her feet could be made to touch the 
floor. 

Oh, she was a fine doll, I can assure you, 
and Clara was not only very fond of her, but 
she was very proud of her, as well ; and she 
used to dress and undress her many times a 
day, with the greatest care. 

One afternoon, Miss Newton, Clara's 
teacher, told the little girls that they might 
bring their dolls to school with them, next 
day. 



HEALTH CHATS. 



Clara was greatly pleased with this, and 
Primrose was arrayed in her finest suit, as 
you may well suppose. 

After the lessons of the morning were 
finished, Miss Newton said, " Now let us 
spend a little time with the dolls, and perhaps 
they can teach us a lesson." 

The children clapped their hands with 
delight, and one of them said, " Oh, that will 
be fun ; but how can our dollies teach us any- 
thing, when they cannot even talk ? " 

" Perhaps they can teach us a lesson in 
some other way," replied Miss Newton. 

" Do you not often gain my attention by 
just raising your hand, or by standing quite 
still at my desk till I am ready to listen to 
you? 

" And when you bow your head, in 
answ r er to a question that is put to you, does 
it not mean the same thing as saying ' yes '?" 

Very soon, all the dolls were placed in a 



10 HEALTH CHATS. 

row, with Primrose seated at the head ; for she 
was the largest and grandest lady of them all. 

" I wonder if these waxen children can 
stand alone?" said Miss Newton. 

" Mine can ! Mine can ! " cried several 
voices at once, and then each little mother 
tried her very best to make her w r axen baby 
stand up straight and strong without help. 

But alas ! not one among them could 
stand alone for a single second ; and even 
Miss Primrose tumbled forward on her face, 
and came very near breaking her proud, little 
nose in the fall. 

" These little ladies have taught us one 
good lesson already," said Miss Newton, " can 
any of you tell me what it is ? " 

The girls were silent for a moment, and 
then Clara replied, " They have taught us that 
dollies need something besides legs and joints 
to help them stand alone." 

She looked a little disappointed as she 



HEALTH CHATS. 11 

said this ; for although she had never tried to 
make Primrose stand up, all alone, by herself, 
yet she felt quite sure that, she could do it; 
and she had hoped to see her excel all the 
other dollies that were present. 

By and by, Miss Newton took hold of 
little Primrose's right arm, and bent the elbow, 
so as to raise the hand of the doll nearly on a 
level with its head. 

Then she requested the class to hold 
their right hands, each in the same posi- 
tion. 

The girls did as they were told ; but in a 
short time their arms became tired, and they 
could hold them up no longer; but there stood 
Miss Primrose with smiling lips, her hand still 
raised to her head, and showing no sign of 
weariness at all. 

" How is it that your arms tire out so 
soon, while the dolly's can be held up for any 
length of time ? " asked the teacher. 



12 HEALTH CHATS. 

" Because we are alive, and the dolls are 
only made of wax/' answered one of the 
class. 

" Yes, that is a very good reason/' said 
Miss Newton ; but who can explain the differ- 
ence between the arms of these waxen 
children and those of our own ? " 

The girls were not ready to answer this 
question ; for they had never learned anything 
about the bones, the joints, and other parts of 
their arms ; and what is more, they had never 
so much as thought what a fine thing it is to 
have the power to use their limbs as they 
pleased. 

Now this was just what Miss Newton 
wanted them to think about ; so she said : 

" How many of you would like to know 
how it is that you are able to stand all alone, 
and to do so many things that your dolls can 
not do? 

" These dainty little ladies are very pretty 



HEALTH CHATS. 13 

to look at ; but they are only make-believe 
children after all. 

" They can neither see, hear, feel, taste 
nor smell. 

" It is a grand thing to be in this beautiful 
world of ours; but in order to be quite happy, 
and to enjoy it all, it is necessary to be well 
and strong; and to be well and strong, we 
must know something about our own bodies 
and how to take care of them ; in other words, 
we must study the laws of health. 

" You may not be able to learn everything 
about the laws of health ; but you can learn very 
much that will be of great use to you through 
life. How many of you would like to do so?" 

In reply, every hand was raised ; and so 
it was agreed that the teacher and her class 
should spend a few moments together, every 
day, in chats among themselves, about the 
different parts of the body, and how to keep 
the body in good condition. 



14 



HEALTH CHATS. 



And now, if you will read this book to 
the end, you will find that many useful lessons 
may be learned in chats among ourselves, 
if we only take care to chat in the right 
manner. 




WHAT IS A CELL? 



deposits 

material 

particles 

composed 

substance 



elephant 

separted 

existence 

pliant 

examine 



magnifying 

diagram 

gradually 

structure 

resemble 



I am going to use the word " cell," in 
some of these Health Chats, and therefore, I 
will explain to you, at the outset, just what I 
mean by it; for if you do not get the right 
meaning of the word, you will very likely be 
thinking of a prison cell, — a hermit's cell, — or 
perhaps, of the waxen cell in which the honey- 
bee deposits its store of sweets. 

First, I must tell you that the material of 
our bodies, and of every living thing, — plants 



15 



16 HEALTH. CHATS. 

as well as animals, — is made up of a countless 
number of particles, each composed of a jelly- 
like substance, having within it the power to 
live and to grow. 

These tiny particles are called " cells." 
Sometimes the outer portion of a cell hardens 
into a thin covering or case, and this case is 
called a "cell-wall." 

It hardly seems possible that the great, 
clumsy body of an elephant began its growth 
with one little cell ; or that a tiny insect, so 
small that you can scarcely see it with the 
naked eye, was even smaller still in its early 
cell-life ! 

We may say the same of the giant oak 
that spreads its leafy branches far and wide ; 
and of the dainty wildflower that shyly hides 
itself away in the tall grasses at its roots. 

Both tree and flower started out in life as 
a little cell, and so did every blade of the 
green grass that keeps company with them ! 



HEALTH CHATS. 17 

But how did a little cell grow to be a 
great elephant, — a tall tree, — a tiny insect, — 
or a dainty wildflower ? 

It was in this way: 

Each single cell grows and grows, and 
divides itself again and again ; and each 
division, or new cell, grows and grows, and in 
turn, divides itself, until by and by, there is a 
great mass of them. 

Sometimes the divided cells do not cling 
together in one mass, but remain separated, 
each by itself ; then the animal or the plant, — 
as the case may be, — leads a one-celled 
existence. 

But animals and plants of this sort 
belong to a very low order of life ; for " In 
union there is strength/' you know; and a one- 
celled object does not rank very high in the 
world of growth. 

On the next page is a picture of a one- 
celled plant, showing first, the little cell, then 



18 



HEALTH CHATS. 



its division into two parts, and then the 
separation of the parts. 




water algm (one celled plant.) 



Here also is a picture of a one-celled 
animal that lives in fresh water ; its cell-wall 




amceba (one celled animal.) 



is very thin and so pliant that it may change 
its form with almost every move that it 
makes. 



HEALTH CHATS. 19 

It is such a mite of an animal that you 
cannot examine it without the aid of a magni- 
fying glass. In fact, it is so small that one 
drop of water is a world large enough- for it to 
move in ! 





A 



. DIAGRAM OF VERTICAL SECTION OF THE SKIN. 

A. Flatened scales, viewed from flat side. (Highly magnified.) 



Here also is a diagram of the cell growth 
of the human skin ; you will notice that the 
cells gradually change in shape, from the 
newly formed, almost round cells in the lowest 
layer, to the long, flattened cells at the top, 
or outer layer. 

And now that we have a pretty fair idea 



20 



HEALTH CHATS. 



of what the word " cell ' means, we shall be 
better able to understand how it is that these 
cell-masses form the material, or " tissue/' as 
we call it, that composes the bodies of animals 
and of plants. 






CELLULAR TISSUE. 



CELLULAR PLANTS MAGNIFIED. 



CURIOUS WORKSHOPS. . 

Part I. 

Physiology exclaimed stomach testimony 

muscles supplied providing collecting 

machines wholesome actually situated 

machinery nourishment palate accidents 

I have a young friend who has just com- 
menced studying Physiology ; and yesterday, I 
invited him to dine with me. 

When I asked him how he enjoyed the 
study, he replied that he liked it very well, 
only he found it rather hard at times, to 
remember some of the queer names of the 
different bones and muscles. 

" Ah, well," I said, " but you do not have 
to learn them all at once, you know. 

" You would not find it an easy thing to 

21 



22 HEALTH CHATS. 

remember the names of all the boys that you 
meet at school on the first day of the session, 
would you ? " 

He laughed at the idea of trying to do 
that ; and so we chatted on, about the different 
things that he had been learning, till the bell 
rang for dinner. 

As we took our places at the table, I said, 
" Now we will set all the machines in our 
workshops a-going." 

He looked around in some surprise, and 
asked, " Where are they? What workshops 
do you mean ? " 

" If you were to visit that knitting mill 
that we see away on the hill yonder," I replied, 
" you would find that every piece of the 
machinery there has its own special work to 
do ; needle, spindle and wheel, must each j)lay 
its part ; and yet no separate piece can do 
anything by itself ; each must have the aid of 
the other. 



HEALTH CHATS. 23 

" Now, these bodies of ours are something 
like busy workshops, and the different machines 
that keep them going are called organs. 

" The names of some of these organs are 
hard to pronounce ; but it is necessary to 
know them, in order to understand their use. 

" You have already found that some of 
the names are easy enough to speak, as the 
heart, the brain, the liver, the lungs, and many 
others that you will learn as you go along. 

" And now as we are about to begin our 
dinner, let us see which one of the machines 
in our workshops is to be set in motion first." 

" Oh, I know," he exclaimed quickly, and 
as he spoke, he began to chew a mouthful of 
food, very slowly. 

"That is right/' said I; "give the grind- 
ing mill the first turn, and do not over-feed it 
nor work it too fast. 

" If you chew your food slowly and well, 
you will need no drink to moisten it, nothing 



24 



HEALTH CHATS. 



except what is supplied by the glands of your 
mouth." 

As soon as I had finished speaking, he 
asked, " Why, then, do so many people drink 
tea and coffee with their meals?" 

" Because they have formed the habit of 
doing so," I replied; "just as too many people 
have formed the habit of drinking wine, beer, 
whiskey and other poisons. 




HEALTHY STOMACH. 



UNHEALTHY STOMACH. 



" I call these drinks poisons because they 
do not increase the strength of the body at all ; 
on the contrary they tend to weaken it in 
every part. 

" I have placed a glass of milk at your 



HEALTH CHATS. 



25 



plate, as you see ; for it is not only a whole- 
some drink, but it is also a healthful kind of 
nourishment that may be taken into m the 
stomach with every meal of the day. 

" But it is not needed to moisten other 
foods that you eat ; for the glands of your 
mouth will do that. 




THE SALIVARY GLANDS. 



P P', Parotid; sm, sub-maxillary, d is placed below the duct of the parotid. 

" These glands are like small pouches or 
sacs ; and they hold a constant supply of about 
three pounds of fluid a day ; surely, such an 
amount as that ought to be quite enough to 



26 HEALTH CHATS. 

moisten all the food that you need at each 
meal, providing you eat slowly so as to chew 
it well" 

" But when one eats so slowly, it takes 
such a very long-time," said my young friend. 

" Very true," I replied, " but for what use, 
pray, were thirty-two sharp teeth given us ? " 

" I saw a man in a dining saloon of an 
ocean steamer not long ago, who ate in such 
haste, that he actually shovelled the food into 
his mouth with a knife ! 

" He scarcely took time to chew it at all ; 
and in his eager haste to satisfy his appetite, 
he ran the knife so far into his mouth, that it 
did seem as if the soft palate was in some 
danger of being cut off! 

" And with every mouthful of food that 
he ate, he took also a swallow of beer. Alas ! 
his purple-red nose, his blood-shot eyes and 
his bloated face, all bore testimony to his 
manner of living. 



HEALTH CHATS. 27 

" But to return to our workshops. 

" When we have a mouthful of food well 
ground and properly moistened, what happens 
next? 

" Your own tongue can answer that ques- 
tion, and you will not be obliged to put it into 
the form of words, either. 

" Now take notice, and you will see that 
the tongue is busy in collecting all the food 
particles together into one mass, and very 
soon it will convey it to the back part of the 
mouth. What then ? 

" Then it will be thrust into a small 
funnel or tube, about four inches in length ; 
and moving onward, it will pass into a larger 
tube, about nine inches in length, and then it 
will be emptied into the stomach. 

" Right here, I must not forget to 
mention that there is a small trap-door in the 
throat, situated just behind the tongue; this 
little door quickly shuts down over a passage 



28 





HEALTH CHATS. 

that leads to the breath- 
ing-pipes, every time that 
a mouthful of food or of 
drink is swallowed. 

" But it sometimes 
happens that we attempt 
to swallow and to breathe 



OPEN. CLOSED. 

DIAGRAM OF THROAT. 



at the same time, and this 
causes us to choke; because an atom of food 
tries to slip through the opening, and ' goes 
the wrong way ' as we often express it. 

" It is not only impolite, but it is also 
unsafe to talk or to laugh with the mouth full 
of food ; and well-bred people will not do it. 

" We should always be careful to observe 
good table manners whether at home or 
abroad ; and as long as we do this, we need 
have little fear of accidents in swallowing. 

" And now let us return to the point 
where we left the food after it reached the 
stomach/' 



CURIOUS WORKSHOPS. 
Part II. 




THE STOMACH. 



busiest inquired special thoroughly 

abused connected instance intestines 

earnestly process gastric pylorus 

11 The stomach is a strong bag that will 
hold three pints or more ; it is one of the 
busiest workers in the body ; but it is often 
abused, because it is made to do too much 
work at one time ; this happens whenever we 
eat more food at a meal than we really need. 1 ' 

Here my young friend earnestly inquired, 
" Which machine is it that makes the blood 

29 



30 HEALTH CHATS. 

and sends it all through and through the 
body? I want to know about it; for I think 
it must be the most curious machine of all." 
" It takes more than one machine to bring 
about all that," I replied ; " for most of the 
food that we eat has a long way to travel, — 
perhaps a distance of thirty feet, before it 
finally becomes changed into blood ; and each 
machine connected with the blood-making 
process has its own special task to perform. 

" But we are coming to it now, step by 
step, and if you follow me carefully, you will 
soon discover that although every mouthful 
that we eat has to travel a long distance, 
and that it must pass through several little 
machines on its way, still the end is soon 
reached ; and the very food that we are 
handling now, may soon become part of 
ourselves. 

" For instance, some of the bread that 
you put into your mouth a moment ago, was 



HEALTH CHATS. 31 

changed there by the fluid of the little glands 
that helped to moisten it." 

" What, changed into real, red blood ? " 
he exclaimed ; and as he spoke, he quickly put 
out his tongue, as if he expected to see it 
look very much redder than when he began 
his meal ; but in this he was mistaken ; for the 
color of his tongue was about the same as 
before. 

"No," said I, "not into red blood; but it 
was so changed that it was all prepared to 
pass down into the stomach, ready for use in 
the process of blood-making." 

"And what becomes of the food that is 
not changed by the fluids of the mouth ? " 

" Oh, that is left for the glands of the 
stomach to prepare ; these glands are always 
very active ; they contain a strong, sharp acid, 
called gastric juice, a word that really means 
stomach-juice. 

" Now, after food reaches the stomach, it 



32 



HEALTH CHATS. 



is rolled about and well-shaken, until it is 
thoroughly wetted with this strong acid ; we 
sometimes say that food is churned in the 
stomach because it is kept in such constant 
motion there. gullet. 




SECTION OF STOMACH. 



Showing inside mucous coat containing gastric glands. 

" Finally, when the portion of it which is 
ready to be used for blood-making is taken up 
through the thin walls of the vessels that hold 
the blood, it can no longer be called food, 
because it then becomes a part of the blood 
itself. 

" There is still a portion remaining in the 
stomach, and this passes through an opening 



HEALTH CHATS. 33 

into the upper part of the small intestine ; 
called the pylorus ( pi-lo'-rus.) This name 
comes from a word that means gate-keeper; 
and it is well-named ; for no portion of food 
can pass through this opening that is not 
ready to leave the stomach. 




PANCREAS AND SPLEEN. 

The stomach is represented turned up, S being on its under surface, p indicates the junc- 
tion of stomach and duodenum ' d) at the pylorus. O is placed at the junction of stomach and 
gullet. L is on the right portion of the liver, which is also turned up to show^-, the gall bladder. 
f is placed to the side of the common bile duct formed by ducts from the liver and gall-bladder. 
h-t is the pancreas, revealed by the turning up of the stomach. Sj>, spleen, v, the part where 
blood-vessels are connected to the spleen, n and a, blood-vessels. 

" As soon as it enters the intestine, it 
is acted upon by a very bitter fluid that comes 
from the liver; this fluid is called the bile; it 
is somewhat gluey, and is of a greenish-yellow 
color. 



34 HEALTH CHATS. 

"But this is not all; there is another juice 
that mixes with the food here; and this juice 
comes from a gland called the sweetbread. 

"The " sweetbread " (pan'-cre-as), is a long 
gland, shaped something like a dog's tongue, 
and is of a very light color. You will learn 
more about this gland, and the kind of fluid 
which it contains, in your text-book on 
Physiology. 

" By this time, the whole mass is changed 
to the color of milk ; and as it passes through 
the small intestine, it is sucked through the 
walls of a great many little tubes and becomes 
blood. 

" So you will see that blood-making is a 
lengthy process that begins with the mouth 
and ends with the intestines." 

" But how about the machines that send 
the blood through every part of the body ? " he 
inquired. 

" I will try to answer that question 



HEALTH CHATS. 



35 




BLOOD VESSELS. 



another day," said I. " Come 
and see me next week ; per- 
haps by that time you will 
have learned something about 
it from your Physiology, and 
we will talk the matter over 
together. 

" You will not find many 
hard names to remember in 
studying about it; for although 
there is almost a countless 
number of blood vessels running in every 
direction through the body; it is only 'the 
larger and more important ones that we know 
by name. 

" In case you are able to look the subject 
up for yourself, see if you come across any 
drain-pipes among the many blood-conductors 
that you find. I am hoping that you will be 
able to teach me something about these things 
when we meet again. 



36 HEALTH CHATS. 

" But now does it not seem rather- strange 
that the bread and meat which we are eating 
at this very moment is soon to become a part 
of our own bodies ? 

" And such perfect machinery withal. 
Do you not think it wonderful?" said I. 

" Yes," replied my young friend, " it is 
indeed wonderful, and I have always liked to 
study about machinery ; but I never knew 
before to-day, that I myself am a traveling 
machine-^hop/' 

" That is not a bad idea/' said I. " And 
now that you .have the shop so near at hand, 
there is no good reason why you should not 
learn the workings of every part of it." He 
quite agreed with me in this, as I could see. 

And so he left me to go on with his 
studies ; and I am very sure that he will soon 
be able to master all the hard names that he 
may hereafter meet with in his text-book on 
Physiology. 



INLETS AND OUTLETS. 



discontented 


opposite 


chyle 


pendulum 


Switzerland 


contact 


complained 


Geneva 


impurities 


equally 


purple-hued 


delicate 


artery 


partition 


lymph 



Did you ever read the story of " The 
Discontented Pendulum" ? This pendulum 
complained that it had to keep swinging back 
and forth, day in and day out, without so 
much as once stopping to rest. 

But upon looking into the matter, it was 
found that all the other parts of the clock 
were equally busy, each doing its own special 
work, in its own proper time ; and thus it 
turned out that the pendulum did no more 
than its full, rightful share, after all. 

Furthermore, it was discovered that this 



37 




DIAGRAM OF THE BLOOD VESSELS. 



HEALTH CHATS. 39 

foolish pendulum would not be able to swing 
at all, were it not for the help of all the other 
parts of the machinery ! 

So it is with these bodies of ours ; each 
separate organ must receive help from all the 
others, in order to perform its own task well. 




SECTION OF HAND — SHOWING ARTERY. 



Place your finger upon your wrist, and 
you will feel a steady beat — beat — beat — 
which we call the " pulse " ; this beating pulse 



40 HEALTH CHATS. 

is a little wave of a small, red stream that 
flows through the arm. 

The little channel through which this 
small stream flows is called an artery — a 
word that means " to contain air " ; for it was 
supposed, many years ago, that it was the 
special work of such tubes to carry air 
through the body. 

This little stream is only a branch of a 
much larger one that has its source or 
beginning at the left side of the heart, and 
which sends out so many branches that you 
would not find it possible to count them. 

The arteries lie so deep beneath the skin 
that you cannot see them ; but if you look at 
your wrist, near where you feel the beat of the 
pulse, you will see two or three blue veins. 

These are the branches of a dark, purple 
stream that also flows through the arm ; they 
are not filled with bright, red blood like the 
arteries ; because it is their special work to carry 



HEALTH CHATS. 



41 



this kind of blood to the right side of the 
heart. 

So we may say that the heart is like a 
small lake that has an inlet of dark, muddy 




THE HEART. 



water on one side, and an outlet of clear, pure 
water on the opposite side. 

11 But how can that be ? " I hear you ask. 
Listen a moment. 



42 HEALTH CHATS. 

I have seen a beautiful lake in Switzer- 
land, through which a large river runs ; when 
this river enters the lake, it is a dark and 
muddy stream; but when it flows out at the 
other side, it is almost as clear and as blue 
as the sky above it ! 

The lake of which I speak is that 
beautiful body of water known as Lake 
Geneva, and the stream that passes through 
it is called the River Rhone. 

And now I will tell you how it is that the 
dark, purple-hued blood of the body which 
enters the right side of the heart comes out 
pure and bright again at the other side. 

The heart has two strong helpers in 
bringing about this important change, and 
these helpers are the lungs. 

The lungs are light, spongey organs, 
made up of a countless number of tiny sacs 
or cells, each separated from the other by 
a very thin wall, or partition, as we might say. 



HEALTH CHATS. 43 

Now, the purple blood that flows in at 
the right side of the heart must pass through 
the lungs before it can flow out at the opposite 
side ; and while passing through them, its 
color is changed to bright red. 




WIND-PIPE AND AIR-TUBES — ONE SIDE COVERED BY LUNG. 

" But how is it that the inlet of the heart 
happens to be made up of dark blood?" you 
inquire. 

It is just this way : 

The bright, red stream and its branches, 



44 HEALTH CHATS. 

that lead from the left side of the heart, carry 
along with them material to build up every 
tissue of the body, such as the bones, the 
flesh, the skin, and so on ; but while the blood 
vessels give something to the different tissues 
of- the body, they also take something from 
them, in exchange. 

But that which they take in exchange is 
no longer of any value in helping to form new 
tissues; and so it passes into the countless 
branches of that dark stream that finally 
empties into the right side of the heart ; in 
fact, it is the useless, waste material of the 
tissues that gives to this same stream its dark, 
purplish color. 

Now while this dark, impure blood is 
passing through the lungs, it is brought into 
contact with the air which is drawn in at every 
breath, through passages leading from the 
mouth and from the nose. 

As soon as this happens, it loses the 



HEALTH CHATS. 45 

greater portion of its impurities, and its purple 
color becomes changed to a bright red. 

People sometimes find it easier to breathe 
through the mouth ; but it is always safer to 
use the nose as a warming-tube, in drawing 
fresh air into the lungs ; for thethin partitions 
between the lung-cells are very delicate and 
easily affected by cold air. 

There is another tube, a sort of drain- 
pipe, we might call it, that carries blood from 
the liver to the dark colored inlet of the heart. 

Can you tell me in what part of the body 
the liver is to be found ? 

" It is situated in the right side of the 
body," you reply. 

That is correct ; and if you look carefully 
at the diagram on the next page perhaps 
you can give me the names of some of the 
organs that lie near it. 

Ah, you have found the " sweet-bread " 
(pancreas), a gland that helps to change food 



46 



HEALTH CHATS. 




A. 


LUNGS. 


E. 


PANCREAS. 


B. 


HEART. 


F. 


SPLEEN. 


C. 


LIVER. 


G. 


SMALL INTESTINES. 


D. 


STOMACH. 


H. 


LARGE INTESTINES. 



material into blood ; and you have found 
another gland called the spleen. 

But I am not wise enough to understand 
its use, because no one is wise enough to 
inform me! 



HEALTH CHATS. 



47 



The pancreas of the 
lower animals is called 
the " sweet-bread, " and the 
spleen is called the 
" milt" 

And now I must tell 
you of another set of 
tubes, aside from those 
already named, that also 
flow through and through 
the body in all directions. 
These tubes carry a thin 
fluid, called lymph (limf), 
w r hich means like water; 

it is collected from different parts of the body, 
and is generally colorless, like water; but in 
the tubes of the intestines it is milky, and it is 
called chyle ( kile). 

The lymph-tubes are very numerous and 
the greater number of them lead to a larger 
tube that lies in front of the backbone; this 




A. Lymph tube. 

B. Duct. 

C. Spine, or backbone. 



48 HEALTH CHATS. 

tube is called a duct, and it opens into the 
large veins of the neck. 

It is well supplied with valves, so that 
while its contents may be emptied into the 
veins, not a drop of blood in the veins can 
enter the duct. 

These lymph-tubes may be regarded as 
the little economists of the body ; for they 
take up substances of the worn-out tissues 
that are still of some value, and pour them 
into the veins to be used again ; and all this 
helps to swell the purple stream that flows 
through the lungs to be purified. 

If, then, we take good care of the lungs 
by feeding them with pure, fresh air, they will 
be the better prepared to do their special work 
well ; and the dark inlet that passes through 
them, will finally become a bright, red outlet 
flowing from them, carrying health and 
strength to every part of the body. 



LUNG FOOD. 

Part I. 

membrane sentinels sprinkling 

glistening resistance clogged 

purified realize smothered 

You may wonder perhaps, why it is that 
the dark contents of the vein-tubes do not flow 
backwards while on their way to the heart. 

The reason is this : 

The thin membrane that Mnes the vein- 
tubes is folded, here and there, so as to form 
little pouches or sacs ; these tiny sacs are 
called valves; and it is their special work to 
close up the vein-tubes and prevent a backward 
flow. 

Most veins are provided with valves, and 
in the lower limbs they are very numerous ; for 
in standing and walking, the blood would 

49 



HEALTH CHATS. 



naturally flow downward if it were not for 
these little " trap-doors/' 




DIAGRAM OF THE HEART, SHOWING VALVES. 

A, Valve closed. B, Valve open. C, v alve open. D, Valve closed. 

There are also a number of valves in the 
heart, and some of them are fastened by white, 
glistening cords, to round, hard muscles that 
stand out from the walls of the heart. All 
these valves are very important ; for the dark 
blood that goes to the lungs to be purified by 
the fresh air that they contain, must be kept 
moving along in its proper course ; and when 
it leaves the lungs, pure and red, it must rush 
swiftly onward to the outlet of the heart. 

So we may look upon these little valves 



HEALTH CHATS. 51 

as watchful sentinels that never for a single 
moment neglect their duty ; not one of them 
offers any resistance to the passage of the 
blood in its onward way, but as soon as it has 
passed them it is impossible for it to return by 
the same route. 

Each little stream must make its own 
journey onward and onward through the dif- 
ferent parts of the body; and this journey is 
made quickly. 

It is not easy to say just how quickly, but 
it has been stated that the entire quantity of 
blood in the body passes through the heart 
every two minutes ; or perhaps in a little less 
time than that. 

The arteries have no valves excepting 
those that guard their openings within the 
heart ; for they do not need them elsew T here ; 
but as I have before stated, valves act as faith- 
ful sentinels, wherever they are placed, to 
prevent a backward flow (of the blood.) 



52 HEALTH CHATSo 

Busy workers indeed are all the blood 
vessels, the heart and the lungs, and how few 
of us realize the vast amount of labor that is 
daily performed by them. 

There are only sixty seconds in a minute, 
and one cannot expect to do very much work 
in so short a space of time as that ; and yet if 
you draw in a full breath, and try to hold it for 
one minute, how long the time does seem to 
you ! 

Now it has been proved that a person 
breathes as often as eighteen times a minute. 
Would you have believed that your lungs are 
working away at such a rapid rate as that ? 

But this is not all ; for if you were 
obliged to count every throb of the pulse, — 
which in grown-up people is something over 
seventy times a minute, — you would discover 
that the heart actually beats one hundred 
thousand times in twenty-four hours ! 

That is a large number to count, and I am 



HEALTH CHATS. 53 

afraid that some of us would fall asleep before 
reaching the end ! But since the lungs are fed 
with air as often as eighteen times a minute, 
should we not be very careful to supply them 
with food of the proper quality? 

Many people do not know the value of 
pure, fresh air ; because they do not know that 
very soon after it is drawn into the lungs it 
becomes a part of their own bodies. 

Let me explain : 

We take food into the stomach, in order 
to live; but we must also draw air into the 
lungs in order to live ; if we eat poison food 
we are very likely to die ; if we breathe impure 
air, although we may not die at once, yet it 
will tend to shorten our lives. 

Good blood feeds the body and makes it 
strong and active ; and good blood is made 
up of pure air, and of wholesome food and 
drink. 

If we shut ourselves up in a close room 



54 HEALTH CHATS. 

at night, and breathe over and over again the 
air within it, we take poison into the lungs. 

A bedroom should be large enough to 
admit plenty of fresh air; and it should also 
be provided with an opening, through which 
impure air may escape. 

Air is necessary to the life of all animals ; 
even fish, that are found in the deepest waters, 
draw in more or less air through their gills ; 
for there is always a good deal of air in a body 
of water, otherwise no animal could live in it. 

In fact, every living thing, plants as well 
as animals, must have air, in order to live. 
Animals are furnished either with lungs, gills 
or breathing pores; and even plants breathe 
through the tiny pores of their stems and 
leaves. 

" But what is this air that we cannot live 
without ? Of what is it made ? " some one 
inquires. Let us find an answer to this 
question. 



LUNG FOOD. 
Part II. 

oxygen brilliant exception 

nitrogen crystallized graphite 

carbonic acid co-partnership ventilating 

combined over-taxed occupies 

proportion consumed supplies 

There is a certain gas called oxygen 
(oks-T-jen), and another that is called nitrogen 
(ni-tro-jen), and still another called carbonic 
acid gas ; and these three gases form the air 
that we breathe. 

Now we cannot see either of these gases, 
any more than we can see the air. How do 
we know, then, that all this is so ? 

We know it, because persons who have 
made a study of it, have learned how to 
separate these gases, one from another; and 



55 



56 HEALTH CHATS. 

they have found out also that carbonic acid 
gas is composed of oxygen and of carbon, 
combined in certain proportions. 

What is carbon? It is a substance that 
abounds in many forms. All kinds of coal 
contain carbon. The substance of your pencil 
that you call " black lead " is carbon ; but it is 
not black lead, at all, it is graphite, a name 
that comes from a word which means " to 
*vrite." 

I must tell you also that all real diamonds 
are carbon. What ! such brilliant gems as 
diamonds ? Yes, these are but crystallized 
forms of carbon. How very strange that 
coarse, common coal and costly diamonds 
should be made of the same material ! 

But how is it that a piece of hard coal, 
which we can both see and feel, can be 
changed to a thin gas that w T e are not able to 
see at all ? It is in this way : 

When carbon burns, it forms so close a 



HEALTH CHATS. 57 

union with oxygen that it is no longer a solid 
substance ; they have become a gas — carbonic 
acid gas. 

But I must tell you, right here, that 
neither oxygen nor nitrogen are formed in this 
way ; for they are simple gases — that is, they 
are not composed of other substances. 

Now oxygen is the only gas that will 
promote animal life ; but it would be too 
strong, in itself, and it is the office of the 
nitrogen to lessen its force; in fact, there are 
four parts of nitrogen to one part of oxygen in 
the air. 

Besides these three gases, there is always 
some water in the air, and we add more or less 
to it, with every breath that we draw. What ! 
is our breath laden with moisture ? Hold a 
small mirror to your mouth, and you will see ! 

I should have told you before, perhaps, 
that the lungs, the skin and the kidneys form 
a strong co-partnership in freeing the blood 



58 HEALTH CHATS. 

from the impure water which it contains ; and 
when one of these partners fails to do its 
rightful share of the work, the other two are 
over-taxed. 

The breath of the animal creation gives 
out, also, a good deal of the carbonic acid 
gas of the air. 

This is a very heavy gas, and is, therefore, 
often found at the bottom of deep wells, and 
in caves ; a lighted candle will go out if put 
in such places, because where there is no 
oxygen, nothing can burn. 

Wood, coal, chalk, shells of mollusks, and 
in fact, everything that contains carbon, will 
burn quite readily, excepting the diamond and 
graphite ; they will burn only under certain 
conditions. 

As I said before, there can be no life 
where there is no oxygen. I once visited a 
deep cave in Italy, in which carbonic acid gas 
had collected in large quantities ; but being 



HEALTH CHATS. 59 

heavy, it lay upon the floor of the cave, where 
I was in no danger of breathing it. 

My guide took with him a large rat, 
which he threw down upon the floor, at a little 
distance from the mouth of the cave. The 
poor animal tried to make its escape, but it 
was soon overcome by the gas, and died before 
it could reach the opening. 

So when we close all our windows and 
doors at night, we not only shut out our good 
friend oxygen, but we also draw back into the 
lungs some of the carbonic acid gas that has 
been once thrown out of them. 

Care should be taken, however, in venti- 
lating a bedroom, not to allow the outside air 
to pass directly over the bed, as this exposes 
the person who occupies it to the risk of taking 
cold; many a severe illness has been brought 
about in this way. 

Now, strange to say, this carbonic acid 
gas, so injurious to the animal creation, gives 



60 HEALTH CHATS. 

health and life to the vegetable creation, for 
carbon is the food of plants. 

The green coloring of the vegetable 
world, by the help of the sunshine, is able to 
take carbonic acid gas out of the air for the 
support of plant life. 

Think of it! The great golden sun, 
" the king of day," away up in the sky, sends 
down a countless number of shining sunbeams 
to help a tiny blade of grass feed itself ! And 
from below, good Mother Earth supplies its 
slender roots with drink ! 

But does the plant world take no oxygen 
from the air at all, and is it always taking in 
carbonic acid gas ? 

Let us see : 

A certain supply of air is constantly find- 
ing its way through the thin cell-walls of a 
plant; in other words, the plant breathes, and 
also feeds, by means of its tiny pores. 

But it is better able to separate the 



HEALTH CHATS. 61 

carbon from the oxygen under the influence 
of light; and it will do this under any strong 
light, such as an electric light or a gas light. 

During the day, therefore, plants take 
more carbonic acid gas from the air than they 
can during the night. 

But on the whole, the plant world is very 
helpful to us in purifying the air ; for it yields 
up to us much of the life supporting oxygen 
which we so greatly need, and takes, in 
exchange, much of the poisonous carbonic acid 
gas which we do not need at all. 

The verdant grass on which we lightly tread, 
The tiny leaf that flutters on the tree, 
The dainty flower thats droops its modest head, 
Each yields a breath of health to you and me ! 




DIAGRAM OF FRAMEWORK OF THE BODY. 



A STRONG FRAMEWORK. 
Part I. 

museum Cologne 

musical Ursula 

instrument decorated 

tibia embroidered 

awkward constructed 



Anglo-Saxon 

Britains 

fibula 

femur 

comfortable 



I once saw, in a museum, a very old, 
musical instrument that looked something like 
a flute. It was a choice relic, and was care- 
fully kept in a glass case so that no one could 
touch it. 

I learned that it was called a Tibia 
(Tib'-i-a), and that it was so named because it 
had been made of the bone of an animal's leg. 
It seems a little odd that the leg of an animal 
can be turned into a musical pipe, does it not ? 
And yet since all the long bones of an 



63 



64 HEALTH CHATS. 

/ # 

animal's body are hollow, it ought to be quite 
an easy thing to do, after all. 

But I can tell you something far more 
strange than that about the use of the bones ; 
and I may as well tell you right here. 

There is a large church in the City of 
Cologne (Ko-lon), called the church of St. 
Ursula, (Ur'-su-la). This church is decorated 
with the bones of eleven thousand human 
skeletons ! 

The skulls of some of these skeletons are 
covered with velvet caps, embroidered with 
gold ; while many other parts of the body, 
such as the bones of the fingers and of the 
toes, are encased in silver caskets, and in 
tubes of crystal, adorned with gold, silver and 
precious stones. 

. It is recorded that St. Ursula, and her 
female companions, several thousands in all, 
had fled from Britain to escape from their 
Anglo-Saxon enemies. They took refuge in a 



HEALTH CHATS. 



65 




convent at Cologne ; but here they were no 

safer than before, for in the year 451, a terrible 
army of Huns fell upon the city, 
and cruelly murdered men, women 
and children; and St. Ursula and 
her companions were among the 
slain. If you will read the history 
of the Britains, at that period, you 
can learn more about it than I 
have time to tell you here. 

Now as soon as I saw that 
old flute in the museum, I remem- 
bered that there is a bone of this 
kind in the human body, upon the 
inner side of the leg. It is the 
strongest bone below the knee, and 
it is often called the " shin-bone "; 
and fastened to the side of it, is 
a bone that is somewhat similar, 

named the Fibula (FTb'-u-la), a word that 

means a clasp or a buckle. 




A. Tibia. B. Fibula. 



66 HEALTH CHATS. 

It is not necessary for you to learn, at 
this time, the names of the different bones in 
the body ; for there are over two hundred of 
them in all ; and some of the names are very 
hard to pronounce ; so we will learn the name 
of only one more, to-day, and that is the 
Femur ( Fe'-mur), a word that means the thigh. 

This femur, or thigh bone, is the longest, 
and the strongest bone in the body ; and it 
is made fast to the bone of the hip, by a large 
joint. 

Now it would seem that with three good- 
sized bones in each of the legs, one ought to 
be able to stand, to walk, or to run, with the 
greatest possible ease. 

But I know a boy who shuffles along the 
street in a most awkward manner, so that 
with every step that he takes his knees turn 
outward. 

I am sorry to say that some of his school- 
fellows are so rude, and so unkind, as to run 



HEALTH CHATS. 67 

after him, and call him " Bow-legs." I am 
very sure that they would not do this, if 
they were to stop and consider for a moment 
that this poor boy is in no way to blame for 
his manner of walking. 

" But why should he walk in such an odd 
way ? " I hear you ask. 

There may be more causes than one for 
it ; but it is quite likely that when he was a 
baby, he was taught to stand alone, and to 
walk, before his legs were strong enough to 
bear the weight of his body; in this way, both 
the tibia and the fibula were badly bent, and 
his legs became " crooked." 

The bones contain lime, and also some 
animal matter; the limy part makes them hard 
and firm ; and the animal part helps to make 
them strong and tough ; but both parts are 
needed to keep them from being too easily 
bent, or too readily broken. 

When we are young, there is more 



68 



HEALTH CHATS. 




SECTION OF ARM. 



animal matter than lime in the bones ; and 
that is why the legs of little children so 
quickly bend beneath their own weight. 

As there are three 
strong bones in each leg, so 
there are also three in each 
arm, one above the elbow, 
and two below it ; besides 
these, there are many 
smaller ones in the wrist, 
the hand and the fingers. 

I saw a very old man, to-day, who had his 
arm done up in a linen bandage, called a 
" sling " ; he had fallen on the side-walk and 
had broken his w T rist. The bones of an old 
person contain more lime than animal matter, 
and so they are more easily broken than 
children's. 

But with thirty bones in each arm, and as 
many more in each leg, to say nothing of 
those to be found in other parts of the body, 



HEALTH CHATS. 69 

the only wonder is, that so many of us go 
through life with our bony framework safe 
and sound ! 

Are we all sitting erect, at this moment ? 
If not, let us try to do so, for I am quite sure 
that none of us want to become " round- 
shouldered, " do we? 

You and, I have often seen boys and girls 
bending the body forward, both when sitting 
and when walking ; but the back-bone or spine 
of the body is in no way at fault because of 
this; for it is constructed in such a fashion 
that it can be kept upright all the time, if we 
desire it. 

There are twenty-four bones in the spine, 
and they are so well separated by small pads, 
that they can move freely, without rubbing 
against one another at all, no matter whether 
the body bends backward or forward, or from 
side to side; but some people seem to think 
that it is more comfortable both to sit and 



HEALTH CHATS. 



to walk in a stooping position, 
and they do this until the 
spine becomes so badly curved 
that it cannot regain its natural 
position. 

In some cases of injury 
to the spine, a stiff, hard jacket, 
made of plaster of Paris, must 
be worn next to the body, in 
order to keep it erect. There 
is nothing but a layer of flannel 
between this hard jacket and 
the skin, and you may well 
suppose that it is a very un- 
comfortable jacket to wear. 

I have seen little children 
in hospitals encased in such 
jackets, and they were pitiful 
objects to behold. This weak- 
ness of the spine often comes from a disease of 
the bones or of some other parts of the body. 




DIAGRAM OF SPINE. 






HEALTH CHATS. 



71 



But it is frequently caused by a lack of 
nourishment, necessary to the health and 
growth of the bones ; for the body must be 
supplied with the right kind of food, in order 
to build up a strong framework; but we will 
talk more about this, hereafter. 




VERTEBRA — SECTION OF BACKBONB. 



A STRONG FRAME-WORK. 



Part II. 

requires cigarettes offensive 

Austria possessed nicotine 

strapped appearance frightened 

gymnastic disagreeable dwarfed 

It requires but little care on our part to 
keep the body erect through life, even should 
we live to extreme old age. 

I have seen women in Austria, bearing 
heavy wooden boxes strapped on their backs ; 
and these boxes were not empty, by any means; 
on the contrary they were loaded to the very 
top with moist sand. - 

Such women are called " sand-bearers/' 
because it is their business to carry sand to 
the stone-masons, who work it into mortar, for 
the walls of houses and other buildings. 

72 



HEALTH CHATS. 73 

You might suppose that these women would 
soon become " stoop-shouldered, " on account of 
the hard labor that they perform every day of 
the week ; but not so ; for just so soon as their 
burden is removed, they throw back their 
shoulders and stand up as erect as possible, till 
the boxes are emptied and strapped to their 
backs again. 

This is all the gymnastic practice that 
these poor women ever have the time to take ; 
but they make better use of the few minutes 
thus given them, than do many boys and girls 
that I know, who receive a careful drill in this 
important exercise, every school-day of the year. 

I have a young friend who ought to be 
almost as tall again as he is ; but when he 
walks on the street, he looks like a feeble, old 
man, bent with age, although he is but eighteen 
years old. 

Why is it that he is such a dwarf? The 
truth of the matter is this : 



74 HEALTH CHATS. 

When he was a small bov, he formed the 
habit of smoking tobacco, first in the form of 
cigarettes, then in cigars, and finally in clay- 
pipes ; and this stopped his growth. 

He is truly sorry for it now ; because he 
would like to have a tall, straight, manly form, 
such as he might have possessed if he had not 
weakened his body with tobacco. 

But it is not the framework of the body 
alone that is injured by this poisonous weed; 
it is harmful in many other ways. 

It dims the sight, it deafens the hearing, 
it dulls the sense of taste and of smell, it 
defiles the breath, and very often it so weakens 
the mind as to destroy the memory. 

Besides all this, it is a well-known fact 
that persons who have formed the tobacco 
habit, are apt to become very untidy in their 
appearance ; and their garments are usually so 
strongly scented with it, that other persons find 
it really disagreeable to occupy a position near 



HEALTH CHATS. 75 

them for any length of time ; and yet they are 
so used to this vile odor, that they never think 
for a moment that it can be offensive to any- 
body else ! 

Not very long ago, I saw two boys on the 
street who were just learning to smoke. They 
had picked up some cigar-stumps, on their way, 
which were filled with this poison, called nico- 
tine, (nik-o-teen), an oily substance that is 
always found in the tobacco plant. 

One of these boys soon became very ill, 
so that his companion had to help him to a 
seat on the curb-stone. As he grew worse, he 
seemed to be a great deal frightened about him- 
self; but he would have been much more so, 
had he known as I did, that he had just taken 
into his system an active poison, and that it 
was only beginning to do its work. 

He was a tall, straight, fine-looking lad, 
and I trust that as it was his first attempt at 
smoking, it may be his last ; for should he 



76 



HEALTH CHATS. 



persist in trying to form the habit, he will 
doubtless be dwarfed in his growth ; and be- 
sides this, he will be very apt to suffer in other 
ways, both in body and in mind. 




explained 
region 
dissolving 
enlargement 



A STRONG FRAME-WORK. 
Part III. 

limpsy bunions 

companions satisfied 

acquaintance interferes 

pressure alcoholic 

" Uncle Ben " is an old man who spends a 
good deal of his time walking about in the 
forests and in the fields. He tells me that he 
can learn more in that way than he could ever 
learn at school ! 

One day he said to me, " Do you know 
that you are part of a rock? " 

11 How can that be ? " I replied ; and then 
he explained it in this way : 

" The food that we eat and the water that 
we drink, both contain more or less mineral 
matter; and this being the case, we cannot help 

77 



78 HEALTH CHATS. 

taking into our stomachs daily, some portion 
of the material of which rocks are formed." 

We have already learned that the bones 
contain lime ; and many of us know that the 
most common kind of rock is called limestone ; 
but common as it is, there are some forms of 
it that are very rare and of high value. 

The beautiful marble vase that stands upon 
your parlor table was made of a certain kind of 
limestone; and the pretty, tinted shells that 
you pick up along the seashore are made of it ; 
and so are the shells of the crab, of the lobster, 
of the snail, the oyster and the clam. 

These animals take lime into their stom- 
achs with their food and drink, the same as we 
do ; and afterwards they use it in building 
their shells. You can learn all about that in 
your book of Natural History. 

Do you know what " hard " water is ? I 
will tell you. 

When a river, or any other body of water 



HEALTH CHATS. 79 

is fed by streams that flow through a limestone* 
region, the water is said to be hard ; " because 
these small streams bring to it limy matter 
which they gather on their way by dissolving 
some of the limestone. So when we drink 
hard water we drink more or less lime with it. 

A piece of soap dropped into a dish of 
hard water will change it somewhat to a milky 
color ; but it will not have the same effect 
upon rain-water, because that has no lime in it, 
and so we speak of it as " soft water." 

The shell-fish would be poor, naked things 
without their limestone houses ; and what 
weak, limpsy creatures we would be, without 
our strong, limestone frame-work to support us ! 

Why, we would be no more able to hold 
ourselves erect, nor to stand alone, than little 
Miss Primrose, and her companions, whose 
acquaintance we made in the first chapter of 
this book. 

But strong and firm as the bones may be, 



80 



HEALTH CHATS. 



they will not stand too much pressure. Now 
let me tell you something : 

I happened to step into a shoe-store not long 
ago, and I saw there a young lady trying to 
squeeze her foot into a dainty kid shoe, that 
was at least one size too small for her. 




NATURAL FOOT. 



DEFORMED FOOT. 



The shoe-dealer said, " Would you not 
like to try a size larger, Miss?" "Oh, no," 
was the reply, " these shoes will be all right 
when they are broken in." 



HEALTH CHATS. 81 

I can well imagine the red, swollen joints of 
the great toes, called " bunions/' and the hard, 
thickened skin called, upon the smaller toes, 
" corns, " to say nothing of the painful in-grow- 
ing nails of perhaps all the toes, after the 
young lady has her shoes well " broken in." 

How it will spoil her gait too, as she goes 
limping along, at every step ! And all because 
she believes that her foot looks prettier for 
being crowded into a space that is much too 
small for it. 

I am sorry to say that there are a good 
many well-informed people who are not sat- 
isfied with the size of their bodies as nature has 
made them ; and so they use tight corsets to 
compress their ribs, in order to make the waist 
look smaller. Now this greatly interferes with 
the action of the heart and the lungs, and often 
crowds both the stomach and the liver out of 
their proper places. 

Ah, but it is not right to abuse the fine 



82 



HEALTH CHATS. 



frame-work of our body in this way ; on the 
contrary, we ought to take great pains to keep 
it in good condition. 




NATURAL BODY. 



DEFORMED BY LACING. 



And what can we do to keep it in good 
condition ? Let us see. 

Both the food and the drink that we 
consume every day have much to do concern- 
ing this. Those who have made a study of 
the laws of health, agree that brown bread and 



HEALTH CHATS. 83 

milk form a wholesome food, because they both 
contain good material for the bones as well as 
for all other parts of the body. 

Brown bread is made of flour from which 
the bran has not been sifted ; this bran is com- 
posed of the coats of wheat kernels, and it 
contains a good amount of animal matter. 

White bread is very nice to look at, and it 
may be tempting to the appetite ; but it is not 
nearly as wholesome as the bread that is made 
of darker flour. 

Milk alone is full of nourishment, and it 
has been proven that a person can live on it for 
a much longer time, than upon any other single 
kind of food. 

But there is no such nourishment to be 
found in any form of alcoholic drink, such as 
wine, whiskey, brandy, beer and liquids of that 
sort ; all such drinks are harmful to every part 
of the body ; like tobacco, they poison the 
blood, and thus tend to shorten life. 



84 HEALTH CHATS. 

There are many kinds of food besides 
bread and milk that furnish the body with 
mineral matter. We obtain some from the 
flesh of animals, and even from the garden 
vegetables that are placed upon our tables 
every day. How is that possible? I will 
explain : 

Many of the lower animals, as the ox, the 
cow, and the sheep take a quantity of mineral 
substance into their stomachs with their food 
and drink ; so also the roots of vegetables suck 
up sap from the earth ; and in this way, they, 
too, are fed with mineral matter; and that is 
how we obtain bone material from both animal 
and vegetable food. 

So it turns out that " Uncle Ben " was 
right, after all, only he might have gone still 
farther, and said that the whole creation is in 
part, a rock ! 



YOUR HOUSE AND MINE. 



connected 

encloses 

protects 

fibers 

connective 



Part I. 

comparison 

arranged 

balance 

pastries 

constant 



muscular 

especially 

temperate 

healthful 

digestive 



Almost every child has heard the old 
nursery story of "The House that Jack built." 
It runs something in this way : 

"This is the house that Jack built; this is 
the malt that lay in the house that Jack built ; 
this is the rat that ate the malt that lay in the 
house that Jack built." 

And so it goes on to tell about the cat and 
the dog and many other things connected with 
the house that Jack built. 

Now I can prove to you, that your house 



85 



86 HEALTH CHATS. 

and mine are more wonderful than even the 
famous house of the nursery story. 

We have learned something of the frame- 
work of the body, and of the different organs 
connected with it, and now w r e will talk for a 
little while about the thick covering that en- 
closes and protects it. 

When I was a child, I used to visit an old 
lady who earned her living by weaving rag 
carpets for her neighbors. She had a large, 
wooden loom in her house, and there she sat, 
day after day, working busily at her trade. 

The threads of the warp were wound over 
a beam ; while the woof or " filling " as she 
called it, was wound upon a wooden holder 
called a " shuttle ; " and when she was at work, 
how that shuttle would fly back and forth 
through the threads of her warp ! It was a 
pleasure to watch it. 

Now if you will take a piece of lean beef 
that has not been very well boiled, and care- 



HEALTH CHATS. 



87 



fully pull it apart, you will see that it is made 
up of small threads, placed close together, side 
by side. 




MUSCULAR FIBER WITH ITS SHEATH. 



These threads are called fibers, (fi-bers), 
and they are held in place by still finer threads 
which you cannot so well see, for the reason 
that they are easily dissolved in the process of 




MUSCULAR FIBER SEPARATED. 

A into fibers and B into discs. C is a 
highly magnified portion of a fiber. 



Fibers of (i) White Fibrous, and (2) Yellow 
Elastic Tissue. 



boiling ; these finer threads form what is 
called " connective tissue," because they con- 
nect or hold the coarser fibers in place. 

This tissue is found in every organ of the 



88 



HEALTH CHATS. 



body ; in fact, it holds the different parts of the 
body together; and when boiled, it is sticky 
like glue. 

The next time that you eat a piece of 
boiled meat, I am quite sure that you will 
notice this soft, clear jelly-like substance, 
between the layers of the muscle. 

So it is that the meat-tissue or flesh sub* 
stance which covers the bones is made up of 
two kinds of fibers or threads. 

The fine, thin fibers may be likened to 
the warp, and the coarser ones to the woof, or 
" filling," as we may say ; but here our com- 
parison must end ; 
for the threads of 
the loom can neither 
lengthen nor shorten 
themselves, while the 
flesh-fibers of the muscles can do both. Here 
is a picture of a bundle of fibers, showing the 
little cells of which each fiber is composed. 




MUSCLE FIBERS. 



HEALTH CHATS. 



89 



We already know how help- 
less the body would be without 
a strong bony framework to 
support it ; but this framework 
would be quite as helpless with- 
out the aid of the muscles ; for 
it is by their force that every 
bone of the body is moved. 

The fibers of the muscles 

are arranged in little bundles, 

the ends of which terminate in 

shining, white cords that are 

made fast to the bones ; and 

were it not for the 

help of these muscles, 

we would be quite 

unable to hold our 

LARGE MUSCLE AND BONES OF THE LEG. ^Q^^ ^^t, tO Walk, 

A, Muscle. B C, Places where muscle is 




joined to the bones. 



or to run. 



For example, when you stand up straight, 
the fibers of one set of muscles shorten, while 



90 



HEALTH CHATS. 



those of another set lengthen, and in this way, 
they balance one another, and thus keep the 
body from falling forward. 

Again, to bend your elbow, the muscles, in 
the back part of the arm above the elbow, 
lengthen, while those of the fore-arm shorten ; 
and, if you shut your hand tightly, you can 
both see and feel these mus- 
cles of the fore-arm, standing 
out hard and stiff. 

The body is well covered 
with muscles ; for 
there are about five 




LARGE MUSCLE AND BONES OF THE ARM. 

A, Muscle B B, Places where muscle is joined to the bone. 

hundred in all ; and it is very important that 
we know how to take care of them. Pure air, 



HEALTH CHATS. 91 

wholesome food, and a proper amount of exer- 
cise are as needful for muscles as for bone. 

Rich pastries, strong drink, tobacco and 
opium are harmful to the muscles because 
they are harmful to the blood upon which the 
muscles feed. A constant use of tobacco often 
causes the muscles of the hands to tremble and 
shake, as with old age. 

I know r a man called " Fat Joe " who 
weighs nearly three hundred pounds ; and 
when he walks upon the street, people stop to 
look at him, because he " waddles " along, in 
such a queer fashion. 

The fact is, this man has a strong appetite 
for beer ; and he has taken so much of it into 
his system that he has gained too much useless 
fat, and too little tiseful muscle ; for beer and 
other alcoholic drinks tend to change muscular 
tissue into fat. 

This fat tissue does not help him to exer- 
cise his limbs at all; on the contrary, it is a 



92 HEALTH CHATS. 

burden of which he would gladly free himself. 
His condition might be improved^ however, 
if he would observe the following rules : — 
Exercise briskly everyday, — live upon a spare 
diet, — and avoid taking much fluid of any kind 
into the stomach, and especially at meal-time. 

I would not have you suppose that all 
" fat " people are the victims of alcoholic 
drinks ; for sometimes the most temperate 
persons gain fatty tissue at a rapid rate ; but 
those who understand the laws of health may 
guard themselves against becoming too fat, by 
carefully observing the rules already given. 

Exercise is the best means of gaining 
muscular strength ; and as a general thing," 
boys and girls get a good share of it in their 
out-door sports ; but there is, here and there, a 
child who prefers to sit, poring over the pages 
of a story-book from morning until night. 

Such boys and girls may generally be 
known by their thin, pale faces, and slender, 



HEALTH CHATS. 93 

feeble bodies ; and they seldom grow to be 
strong men and women. 

" What kind of exercise is the most 
healthful ? " I hear some one ask. 

Almost any form of exercise is good that 
calls you out into the open air where you can 
get plenty of sunshine. I do not mean by this, 
that you are always to play in the hot sun- 
shine ; for too much of it might give you a 
headache ; but we " human plants " are some- 
thing like flowers, we cannot grow and thrive 
where there is too much shade. 

Most children are so fond of out-door 
games that they often carry their sport to an 
excess. To get over-tired, again and again, 
wears out muscular tissue faster that it can be 
built up. " Stop before you are tired, " is a 
good rule to follow. 

You should also be careful to avoid taking 
much active exercise either just before or just 
after a hearty meal; because this interferes 



94 



HEALTH CHATS. 



with the digestive work that is being carried 
on in the stomach ; and good digestion makes 
good blood, you know. 

In every form of exercise, loose clothing 
should be worn, so that both the bones and the 
muscles may have free play. 




HEAD OF APOLLO BELVIDERE. 



YOUR HOUSE AND MINE. 





Part II. 




somersaults 


exhausted 


gondola 


tourists 


pastime 


porpoises 


pirouette 


venture 


messengers 


encourage 


Venice 


viloently 



I have said that almost any form of exer- 
cise is good that calls you out into the open 
air ; but there are some ways of using the 
muscles violently that I would not advise you 
to practice. Let me explain. 

I have seen boys in the mountains of 
Scotland, turning somersaults alongside a 
carriage full of tourists, and walking upon their 
hands, with head downward and with heels in 
the air. 

Sometimes they w 7 ould make long leaps 
and with every leap, they would cry out 



95 



96 HEALTH CHATS. 

" Pirouette ! " " Pirouette ! " (pir-oo-et), meaning 
by this, " See me whirl ! See me dance ! ' : 

Then some one would encourage them by 
throwing a penny into the road, as a reward for 
their feats; and the boys would follow the car- 
riage, for a long distance in this way, until they 
became perfectly exhausted. 

Such violent exercise as this is both un- 
safe and unnatural; it often brings on a severe 
attack of bleeding at the nose, because it 
greatly disturbs the action of the heart and of 
the blood vessels. 

When walking, for the express purpose of 
taking exercise, it is a good plan to swing the 
arms as you walk, so as to bring as many 
muscles as possible into action ; but it is not a 
graceful thing to do in the street, nor in the 
house. 

I like to see a class of pupils file in and out 
of the schoolroom to the sound of music, keep- 
ing step with the time as they march ; but I 



HEALTH CHATS. 97 

have seen both girls and boys marching along 
in this way, swinging their arms back and 
forth like wood-choppers in a forest! 

All exercise connected with gymnastics is 
helpful, to the growth of the muscles, and may 
be considered the next best thing to out-door 
sports. 

Skating is a pleasant pastime ; but there 
is often some danger connected with it, 
especially where the water is deep. Rowing is 
a fine exercise, as it brings into action not only 
a large number of muscles, but many of the 
bones and joints of the body, as well ; however, 
even this must not be carried to an extreme. 

And how about swimming? The boys can 
testify that every muscle of the body must play 
its part in the water ; but I am sorry to say 
that they sometimes forget themselves, and 
remain in the water too long ; if this happens 
very often, the body is weakened, and perhaps 
some disease may follow that will prove fatal. 




SCENE IN VENICE. 



HEALTH CHATS. 99 

Then too, boys are apt to venture beyond 
their depth ; and even the best swimmers are 
sometimes seized with " cramps " in the lower 
limbs; and in this condition, where the water is 
very deep, they are unable to help themselves. 

However, it is a fine thing to know how 
to swim, and with a proper amount of caution 
it is a safe and healthful form of exercise, for 
girls as well as for boys. 

I must tell you, right here about some 
little swimmers I once saw in Venice. 

Many of the streets in Venice are nothing 
but " water-ways " or canals as they are called. 
The houses are built along the edge of these 
canals, with steps leading down to the water. 

There are bridges here and there over the 
canals, connecting narrow streets, in which 
people may walk if they choose ; but when 
they wish to ride, they must take a water- 
carriage or boat, called a gondola ; for there are 
no horses in that city ! 



100 HEALTH CHATS. 

Now it is necessary for every child in 
Venice to know how to swim, as you may well 
suppose ; and as soon as the little ones are 
able to walk, they have to learn ; and this is 
how it is done : 

The mother ties a strong rope around the 
waist of her infant, and keeping hold of one end 
of the rope, she throws her child into the water. 
The little creature struggles, and strangles 
and cries until the mother pulls in the rope. 

This is repeated again and again, till the 
child is as well able to swim as a fish, and he 
likes it, too. 

I have seen these baby swimmers sporting 
in the water like a " school of porpoises " with 
never a fear of being drowned. I might add 
that the water in which these children exercise 
their limbs is not always as clean as one could 
desire for bathing purposes ! 

There are some muscles that are not made 
to control the movement of the bones at all ; 



HEALTH CHATS. 



101 



such are the muscles of which the internal 
organs are composed, — such as the heart and 
the stomach. We are not able to direct the 
action of these organs, in any way, while those 
of the limbs can be. moved at will. 

You will learn, in your text- 
book on Physiology, something 
about another set of fibers quite 
different .from those that compose 
the muscles. 

These fibres are called 
"nerves;" and as the muscles gov- 
ern the movements of the bones, 
so the nerves govern the move- 
ments of the muscles. 

These nerve-fibers act as little messen- 
gers, darting about through every part of the 
body, even through the bony framework, itself; 
while the brain is the chief source from which 
each message is sent, and to which every 
answer is returned ; and were it not for these 




102 HEALTH CHATS. 

swiftly flitting messengers, we would have no 
more sense of feeling than little Miss Primrose 
and her waxen friends, of whom we read in the 
opening chapter of this book. 




VIEW OF UPPER SURFACE OF THE BRAIN. 



Both the brain and the nerves must be 
nourished by pure blood, otherwise, all the 
other parts of the body will suffer : in fact, it is 
the brain and the nerves that give the first 



HEALTH CHATS. 103 

signals of danger when the system is being 
injured either by impure air, unwholesome 
food, or poisonous drinks. 

" But what has all this to do with the 
" House that Jack built? " you inquire. 

Why, don't you see ? Good food, pure 
water, pure air and a proper amount of exercise 
make good blood ; good blood makes good 
bone, muscle and nerve ; good bone, muscle 
and nerve make a good house for the soul to 
live in : and if you and I are careful to obey 
the laws of health, we may each of us have 
just such a house of our own. 

And now do you not agree with me that a 
house made for the soul to live in, is a far 
more wonderful structure than one that is 
merely made for the comfort of the body, such 
as the house that Jack built? 



influenced 
maxim 
papilla 
papillae 



THE TONGUE. 

examination 
microscope 
occasion 
disturbed 



monitor 
operation 
sensitive 
similar 




" Now, open your mouth and shut your eyes 
And I'll give you something to make you wise." 

This " something ' I am going to press 
against the roof of your mouth, and upon the 
inside of your cheeks, and I will also place a 
bit of it under your tongue. 

You must not touch the upper surface of 
your tongue to any of these places till I give 
you permission. 

104 



HEALTH CHATS. 105 

There ! it is done, but you cannot tell me 
what it is ! Now I will touch it to the edge 
and to the upper surface of your tongue. 

" Oh, I know what it is," you exclaim, " it 
is candy ! " You are quite right, and we have 
proved, beyond a doubt, that the tongue is the 
special organ of taste ; for you did not know 
that it was a sweet substance until it came in 
contact with the tongue itself, did you ? 

Many people will not believe this until 
they have proved the truth of it for themselves; 
and that is right ; for it is always better to " see 
with your own eyes," and to " hear with your 
own ears," than to depend wholly upon what 
you read in books, or upon what people tell you. 

But I must add, that the sense of taste is 
greatly influenced by the sense of smell. We 
sometimes say of things that have a pleasant 
odor, " That smells good enough to eat : " and 
we have no desire to taste things that have a 
disagreeable odor. 



106 HEALTH CHATS. 

We may even close the nostrils and 
swallow some kinds of food, as a bit of raw 
onion, without knowing whether it is really 
an onion or an apple ; but in this case, the 
onion must not be strong enough to " bite " 
the tongue ! 

Do you ever swallow any portion of your 
tongue ? " No," you reply ; and you laugh at 
a question that seems to you so absurd. But 
I can prove to you that you are mistaken. Do 
not be frightened, however, for there is an old 
maxim, that " The tongue lasts as long as life 
lasts/' So there is no danger that you will 
ever swallow it all! 

The tongue is covered with a delicate 
membrane which is raised up in very little 
bunches. Each little bunch is called a papilla 
(pa-pil-la), a word that means pimple. When 
we speak of two or more of these little pimples 
we call them papillae ( pa-pil-le.) 

There are several different forms and 



HEALTH CHATS. 107 

sizes of these papillae ; and those upon the 
edges and upon the tip of the tongue are much 
smaller than those upon the back part of it, 
towards the root. They are constantly falling 
off and being replaced, and we swallow thou- 
sands of them every day. In fact, we swallow 
a portion of the tongue with every meal we 
eat ! 

You will be still more surprised, I am 
sure, when I inform you that both you and I 
have a little garden in our mouths, — Yes, a 
real, little garden of our own ! 

Let me tell you how this is. 

Both the food that we eat and the water 
that we drink contain many tiny germs of 
plant-life ; and the warmth and moisture of the 
mouth help them to thrive and to multiply very 
rapidly. In this way, we are never without 
them, and one or more of them may be taken 
from the mouth at any time for examination 
under the lens of a microscope. 



108 



HEALTH CHATS. 



However, these small germs do us no 
harm ; and if we are careful to keep the teeth 
well brushed, and the mouth clean, we shall 
never have any occasion to feel disturbed 
about this tiny garden of ours, that we can 
neither see nor taste nor feel ! 




UNDER SIDE OF TONGUE. 








UPPER SURFACE OF TONGUE. 



A B, Bone at root of tongue. 



Here is a picture of the tongue, showing 
how it is fastened to a strong bone that holds 
it in place at the root. It does not look as if 
it could ever be taken out, does it? And yet, 



HEALTH CHATS. 109 

should it be necessary to take the tongue 
out on account of disease, it can be done. 

The general color of this organ, in health, 
is of a pale red ; but the tongue of a tobacco 
smoker is usually of a dirty white ; and a foul 
condition of the tongue is sure to affect the 
breath, so as to make it very disagreeable. 

The constant use of tobacco frequently 
causes the tongue to become diseased ; and 
any substance, no matter what, that bites and 
stings this sensitive organ, affects the mem- 
brane of the throat and of the stomach in a 
similar manner. 

The tongue of many of the lower animals 
does not differ very much from our own. We 
all know that the dog has a moist, smooth 
tongue ; and that the papillae on pussy's 
tongue are very hard and rasping. It is be- 
cause of this that she is liable to use it as a 
comb, in smoothing out h.er own fur and that 
of her little kittens. 



110 HEALTH CHATS. 

The tongue of a snail is a beautiful object 
when placed under the lens of a good micro- 
scope. It is closely set with fine teeth which 
serve the -purpose of scraping away the fleshy 
portion of plants upon which the snail lives. 

If you study natural history, you will 
learn all this, and much more, that will greatly 
interest you. 

Moreover, you will find that these " sense- 
less brutes, " as they are often called, are not so 
entirely devoid of sense that they will take a 
poison-weed, like tobacco, into the mouth, and 
persist in chewing it ; neither will they swallow 
strong liquids that burn and destroy their 
stomachs. 

Are we then, so much wiser than they? 
I will leave that question for you to answer. 



THE EAR. 

surprised exposed ability 

nevertheless precaution lessened 

auricle injurious approaching 

gristle piercing disappointed 

You tell me that you are fond of music, 
and that you have both an organ and a piano 
at home. I am not surprised to hear that; 
but I can tell you something, at which you 
will be greatly surprised, I think. It is this: — 

You have not only this organ, of which 
you speak, but you actually have two others, 
and two small drums besides ! You have 
never seen them it is true, but nevertheless 
they are yours. 

" Where are they ?" you inquire. 

I will show you a drawing of them, and 
then you may be able to answer that question 
for yourself. 



111 



112 



HEALTH CHATS. 



Here is a picture of the human ear. 
Look at it carefully, please, as I mention 
the different parts. You will see that there 
are three separate parts. — the Outside, the 
Middle and the Internal ear. 




THE EAR OF THE RIGHT SIDE 

A, auricle; B, external canal; C, drum, partly removed; D, cavity of middle ear/ E, anvil, and 
M, hammer — small bones of the middle ear; H, cochlea, and G, semi-circular canals of 
internal ear. I, Eustachian tube passing from the cavity of the middle ear to the throat. 

Observe first, the outside part, called the 
auricle (aw-ri-kl). This name comes from a 
Latin word which means " the ear." It is also 



HEALTH CHATS. 113 

sometimes called the wing of the ear because 
of its form. 

The special use of the auricle is to collect 
sounds; and possibly you may have noticed 
that people who have dull hearing, often hold 
the hand behind the ear, as if to enlarge the 
auricle, so that they can more readily " catch " 
the words of a speaker. 

From the opening of the auricle, a nar- 
row passage, about an inch long, leads to 
that portion of the ear which is hidden from 
sight. 

This narrow passage is called the canal of 
the ear. You have observed, perhaps, that the 
auricle may be easily bent and folded upon 
itself, because there is no bone in it to make it 
stiff and hard. 

The canal of the ear, on the contrary, is 
composed partly of bone and partly of gristle ; 
and across the lower end of it, is stretched 
tightly a very thin membrane. This mem- 



114 HEALTH CHATS. 

brane forms the head of the drum, of which I 
spoke at the opening of this chapter. 

It is the duty of the canal to convey 
sounds to this membrane or " drum-head," 
which in turn, causes sound to enter the mid- 
dle ear. 

Both the drum-head and the canal are 
oiled with a soft, bitter wax. It is believed, by 
some, that this bitter oil is to prevent insects 
from creeping into the canal, when a person 
lies asleep upon the ground, or when the ear 
is exposed at any time in the open air. 

Be this as it may, it is certain that the oil 
also serves the purpose of keeping the lining 
of the canal from becoming hard and dry; and 
should too much of it collect and harden near 
the drum of the ear, as sometimes happens, it 
should be removed by a physician who makes 
the treatment of the ear his special work. 

" Boxing " the ears of a child is a cruel 
practice, and in some cases it has broken the 



HEALTH CHATS. 115 

head of the drum and so caused the loss of 
hearing. 

Taking care to breathe through the nose 
instead of the mouth, is a good way to guard 
the ear from damage. 

One should carefully avoid taking frequent 
14 colds " as it is apt to bring on an attack of 
sore throat which is more or less injurious to 
the organ of hearing. 

It is a careless thing to 
run pins, needles and other 
sharp instruments into the 
canal of the ear, as there is 
much danger of piercing a 
hole in the drum-head. 

Just behind the drum-head 
is the middle ear. This con- 
tains three very small bones, 
-and each bone has received the name of an 
object which it somewhat resembles in form. 
One of them is called the stirrup, another, the 




A, stirrup. B, anvil 
C, mallet. 



116 HEALTH CHATS. 

mallet, and the third is called the anvil. Each 
one of these little bones has its own special 
work to do in helping us to hear. 

There also, is a tube, about two inches in 
length, that leads to the throat, and conveys 
air from the throat to this part of the ear. 




BONY INTERNAL EAR OF THE RIGHT SIDE. 

The upper figure magnified, the lower of the natural size. 

In order to hear well, there must be an 
equal quantity of air on each side of the drum- 
head ; therefore, if this tube becomes closed,- 
either by taking cold, or from any other cause 
that prevents the air from passing freely 



HEALTH CHATS. 117 

through it, the ability to hear plainly becomes 
greatly lessened. 

The internal ear is still more deeply 
hidden away than the middle portion ; for it 
is hollowed out from a very hard bone of the 
skull. 

In this internal portion of each ear, there 
are two little " ear-stones " that are made up of 
fine particles of lime called " ear-sand ; " and 
these tiny stones also have a part in helping us 
to hear. 




ARCHES OF ORGAN OF EAR (VERY HIGHLY MAGNIFIED.) 

Besides all this, there are several small 
canals, some bottle-shaped sacs or pouches, and 
a large number of blood vessels and nerves : is 
it not all wonderful ? 

But the most wonderful thing of all, is a 
tiny organ, having a curious keyboard made 



118 



HEALTH CHATS. 



up of thousands of little fibres, set side by 
side ! 

The extreme ends of many branches of 
the large nerve of the ear are touched by the 
fibres of this little keyboard ; and it is in this 
way, by means of this small organ in your 
head, you are able to hear the kind of sounds 
which you make on the large organ in your 
parlor ! 

Among the lower 
animals, there are some 
V /^^s\ whose sense of hearing 

Vtfv "\ v\\ is very keen. Some also 

have muscles connected 
with the external ear, for 
which human beings have 
no use. Have you not 
observed how quickly the 
horse, the dog, and the cat can " prick up their 
ears/' as we say? 

I often see horses do this, on approaching 




MUSCLES OF THE EAR. 



HEALTH CHATS. 



119 



a drinking-trough, after they have been driven 
along a dusty road on a hot day ; and I have 
no doubt, they are greatly disappointed when 
they are not allowed to quench their thirst. 




THE NOSE. 



gristle 
ploughshare 
determine 
aquiline 



statues 
inflamed 
catarrh 
perforated 



afflicted 
swollen 
assumes 
continuation 




B, Muscle of Nose. 



We learned in the last lesson 
that the External ear has been 
compared to a wing ; and now we 
are to learn that each side of the 
lower part of the nose is called the 
" ala," a word which also means a 
wing. 

These wing parts are composed of gristle, 
as you can plainly see by pressing upon them 
with the finger ; but the nose is not wholly 
made up of gristle. 

On the contrary, it contains several bones, 
some of which have very queer names ; for 

120 



HEALTH CHATS. 121 

example, the bone that separates the two 
nostrils, is called the "vomer," a word that 
means a ploughshare. 

It seems a little odd that one should 
carry a ploughshare about on the face, does 
it not? 

It is this bone that determines the shape 
of the nose Thus, when it is hooked a little 
at the end like the beak of a bird, it is said to 
be aquiline (ack-wi-lin). This name comes from 
a word which means an eagle. A nose of that 
form is said to be of the Roman type ; and 
many fine portraits and statues of the ancient 
Romans represent the nose shaped in that 
way. 

The two side bones of the nose help to 
form the nostrils ; and these nostrils, opening 
as they do directly into the throat, act as per- 
fect air-tubes, by means of which we are able 
to breathe, with the mouth firmly closed. 
When the delicate lining of these tubes 



122 HEALTH CHATS. 

becomes inflamed, from frequent colds, it often 
leads to catarrh. 

In each nostril there are some flat bones 
covered with a very thin membrane ; and at 
the base of the nose, between the eyes, there is 
a long plate pierced with fine holes ; this is 
called a perforated bone. 

This perforated plate is covered on both 
sides with a thin skin, or membrane ; and upon 
its upper side are found the ends of the nerves 
of smell that lead from the brain. 

A large number of nerve-fibres pass 
through this perforated plate to the thin mem- 
brane that covers the bony plates of the 
nostrils ; and when these nostril plates or their 
covering become inflamed by catarrh, or from 
any other cause, it affects the sense of smell, 
and sometimes destroys it. 

This sense of smell is much keener in the 
upper part of the nostrils, and that is why we 
" snuff up " a pleasant odor. 



HEALTH CHATS. 123 

Have you ever noticed a number of fine 
hairs at the opening of the nostrils ? These 
hairs serve as screens to keep the dust out. 

The nose is connected with nearly every 
bone of the skull, so that if this organ be dis- 
eased any part of the head may easily become 
affected. 

Care should be taken to avoid " frequent 
colds ; " for this often brings on catarrh and 
other diseases that injure the sense of smell. 

People who are afflicted with catarrh, often 
snuff up fluids of various sorts, as a remedy 
for the disease; but this is not a safe thing to 
do, as such fluids frequently affect both the 
throat and the ear-passages. 

The "lobe" or end of the nose is some- 
times greatly changed, both in form and in 
color by the use of alcoholic drinks ; in such 
cases it generally becomes a good deal swollen, 
and assumes a purplish hue. 

The shape of the nose may also be 



124 



HEALTH CHATS. 



changed by pressure : and there are certain 
savage nations that flatten the noses of their 
children by this means, in order to make their 
noses look shorter ; as they consider a short 
nose a mark of beauty. 

And now let us consider, for a moment, 
the sense of smell among the lower animals. 
Both the dog and the cat, as you probably 
know, possess this sense in a very high degree. 

We may say the same 
of the rabbit and of many 
other wild animals that seek 
their living in the depths of 
the forest. This keen sense 
of smell often warns them 




DISTRIBUTION OF NERVES OVER QJ daHQfeT. 

INTERIOR OF WALL OF NOS- 

TRIL - The reason why it is so 

keen is because the ends of the nerves of smell 
are spread over a large surface that comes in 
contact with the outside air. 

Have you ever looked at the nasal open- 



HEALTH CHATS. 125 

ing of a bird's beak ? You will find them on 
the upper part of the beak, between the eyes. 

I once saw a little girl who was afraid of 
the harmless, barn-yard fowls : because when- 
ever she came near them, she said they 
" opened their noses " at her ! I am afraid she 
did not know their beaks from their nostrils. 

But the elephant has the queerest nose of 
all : his huge trunk is only a continuation of 
his nostrils ; in fact, his nose is really a long 
double tube, by the aid of which he is able to 
draw up water and pour it into his mouth. 

You can learn in your Natural History, 
many more interesting things about the special 
senses of the lower animals, than I am able to 
to tell you here. 





THE SKIN. 






Part I. 


- 


elastic 


scarfskin 


complexion 


encased 


margin 


pigment 


cuticle 


frayed 


warty 


dermis 


replaced 


reptiles 



Yesterday, " Uncle Ben " said to me, " Do 
you know that you are walking about between 
two bags ? " 

That was a queer thing to say ; but I have 
found that, in one sense, he spoke the truth; 
for the skin that covers and protects the 
external parts of the body serves as the outer 
bag or sack, while the thin membrane that 
lines the internal parts of it may be called the 
inner bag or sack. 

You can see that the inner sack is much 
thinner than the outer one, if you will compare 

126 



HEALTH CHATS. 127 

the skin of the lips, of the nostrils and of the 
ear-passages, with that of the face or of the 
hands ; and in some parts of the body it may 
be found even thinner still. 

When you try on a kid glove for the first 
time, it generally fits so closely that you can 
scarcely bend your fingers, and your hand feels 
stiff. 

Now the skin that covers and protects 
these bodies of ours is made to fit even more 
closely than a kid glove ; but it is so elastic 
that it yields to every movement of the parts 
which it covers. 

If this were not so, how very stiff and 
awkward we would appear! Think of Miss 
Primrose and her friends, encased in white 
kid skins, and that will give you an idea of 
it ! Ah, but the covering of the living body 
is something very different from that, as you 
will see when I tell you how it is made up. 

The skin is composed of two layers ; the 



128 HEALTH CHATS. 

outside or surface layer is called the cuticle 
(ku-ti-kl), a name that comes from a word 
meaning "the 'little skin;" and just beneath 
this, is another layer called the dermis (der-mis) 
a word that means " the true skin." 

The cuticle is made up of several layers of 
cells, as you will see by looking at the picture 
on page 19. 

This cuticle or outer covering is often 
called the " scarf skin; " and if you prick it with 
a pin or a needle anywhere, you will not feel 
any pain and it will not bleed ; for it contains 
neither blood vessels nor nerves. The thick 
margin at the root of the nails is a part of this 
skin. 

Sometimes a portion of this margin 
becomes frayed and loose so as to affect the 
true skin underneath, then we call it a " hang- 
nail ;" and it is often very painful. 

" But since this surface skin does not aid 
the sense of feeling, at all, of what use is it?" 



HEALTH CHATS. 129 

you inquire. It is of great use, for it serves to 
protect the very sensitive, true skin that lies 
beneath it, and of which I shall tell you, by and 
by. 

If you will scrape the back of your hand 
with your finger nails, you will see that this 
scarf-skin is composed of little scales. These 
scales were the cells that made up the layer of 
the surface skin, and which become flattened 
as they reached the top. 

If you will rub your body briskly with 
a flesh brush, or a coarse, dry towel, you may 
see these scales falling in a shower of white 
powder. 

As soon as they are removed, the layer of 
cells that was beneath them begins to harden 
into scales which in turn, fall off; and so the 
surface layer is being constantly thrown off, 
and as constantly replaced. Thus we shed a 
portion of our skin every day of our lives, 
without ever feeling the loss of it at all ! 



130 HEALTH CHATS. 

The lower portion of this surface layer 
contains a large number of paint-cells in which 
a coloring matter is stored ; and it is this paint 
that gives a tint to the complexion ; it is called 
" pigment/' a name which comes from a word 
which means " to paint." 

This pigment is furnished by the blood 
vessels of the true skin, and it not only tinges 
the skin, but it gives coloring to the hair as 
well. 

You know that the people of some coun- 
tries have fair complexion and " light colored " 
hair; while others, as the Negro race, have just 
the opposite. 

" Have you any freckles upon your face 
and hands ? " These are little grains of pig- 
ment matter; and if you expose yourself to 
the rays of the hot sun, they will increase in 
number. 

You do not know 7 , perhaps, that your 
nails, your eyelashes, your eyebrows and your 



HEALTH CHATS. 131 

hair, are each and all of them an out-growth 
of the skin. They are, as you know, entirely 
destitute of blood vessels and of nerves, and 
are formed from layers in the surface skin. 

So are the horns and hoofs of a cow, the 
mane and tail of a horse, and the wool of a 
sheep. It is the same with the thin, pearl-like 
scales of your gold-fish, the thick, shaggy hair 
of your dog, the soft, smooth fur of your cat, 
and the sharp beak — as well as the bright 
feathers — of your canary bird; these are but 
different forms of skin growth that are shed 
and renewed at stated periods, during the life 
of these animals. 

Certain insects, also, as grasshoppers, spi- 
ders and some others, shed the entire skin 
several times before they reach their full size. 

If you find any toads in your garden, 
watch them carefully ; for it is a funny sight 
to see them pull off their coarse, warty hides. 

Have you ever seen the cast-off skin of a 



132 HEALTH CHATS. 

snake? I have found quite a number of them 
that were strong and tough, and almost perfect 
in form ; for these reptiles never part with 
their coats till they are quite sure that they 
have a better one underneath ! Are human 
beings always as wise as that ? Not when 
they are willing to barter their last garment for 
strong drink, as some men have been known to 
do- 



THE SKIN. 

Part II. 

scale-skin interwoven stoker 

absorb section perspiration 

multitude abundant morphine 

go-betweens moisture injected , 

And now that w r e have learned something 
about the scale-skin that covers the surface of 
the body, let us study a little the structure of 
the true skin that lies beneath it. 

This true skin is filled with blood vessels 
and with nerves ; and it is this layer which 
gives to us the sense of touch. 

Have you any corns upon your toes ? I 
hope not ; but if you do chance to have one, 
you can pare off a good portion of it without 
feeling any pain. 

But as soon as a sharp pain darts through 
it, then you have touched a little nerve of the 
true skin that quickly carries its complaint to 
the brain. 



133 



134 HEALTH CHATS. 

The upper surface of the true skin is 
raised up, into a countless number of fine 
pimples, called papillae ( pa-pil-lee ) ; and it is 
in these papillae that the nerves are found 
which give to us the sense of touch. 

This sense of touch is very delicate in the 
tips of the fingers, at the end of the tongue, 
and in many other parts of the body ; but it is 
much lessened in the fingers of people who 
perform hard labor with the hands ; for in 
such cases, the surface-skin becomes thick and 
horny, and that deadens the sense of feeling. 

The true skin contains not only a count- 
less number of nerve and blood vessels, but 
here we also find a multitude of little glands, 
some of which are filled with oil, others with 
water, or " sweat " as we call it. 

Both of these fluids ooze out from the 
walls of the blood vessels which course 
through the skin in every direction. And 
oh, such tiny blood vessels they are ! You 



HEALTH CHATS. 



135 



cannot pierce the skin, anywhere, with the 
finest needle, without finding one. 

These tiny vessels are the little " go- 
betweens " that connect the arteries with the 
veins, and they are so very closely interwoven 
among themselves, that it is impossible to 
make out where an artery ends and where a 
vein begins. 




VERTICAL SECTION OF THE SKIN. 

A, Hair; B, Sweat pore; C, Epidermis, or outer layer of skin; D, Dermis, or inner layer of skin; 
E, Oil glands; F, Fat cells; G, Sweat gland; H, Hair bulb; I, Blood tube. 

Here is a picture that shows you a sec- 
tion of the skin with its numerous nerves, 
blood vessels and glands. 



136 HEALTH CHATS. 

The oil glands serve to keep the skin soft, 
so that it may not easily be " chapped " in cold 
weather. 

These glands are also abundant in the 
scalp, at the roots of the hair. They are gen- 
erally very active, and perform their work w 7 ell ; 
so that if the scalp be clean and if the hair 
be carefully brushed every day, there will be 
no need of using oil and other greasy dressings 
to make the hair smooth and glossy. 

You will see by the picture, that the sweat 
glands are placed in small pits in the deep 
parts of the skin. 

Each gland is a little, pink body made up 
of a tiny tube that is rolled and twisted in and 
out upon itself, in a sort of loosely wound ball. 

I have sometimes seen balls of candy rolled 
and twisted up in this same way, and they always 
remind me of the picture of a sweat gland. 

You will see that the little ducts or tubes 
leading up to the surface-skin, are a part of 



HEALTH CHATS. 137 

the glands themselves, and that some of them 
become a good deal bent and twisted in their 
upward course. 

This happens where they pass through a 
thick portion of the skin ; but in places where 
the skin is somewhat thinner, the tubes are 
quite straight. 

These sweat glands are always active; 
although we never notice it unless the body is 
very warm ; then we become " sweaty/' as we 
sometimes say. 

The tiny openings or mouths of the sweat 
tubes are called u pores " ; and if you could see 
them, you w r ould find thousands of them upon 
eaclrfinger-tip of your hand alone ! 

If you put on a thick, rubber coat and 
wear it for several hours, outside of your other 
clothing, you may find it as wet upon the inner 
side as if it had been rained upon ; and yet 
during the whole time you may not be aware 
of feeling " sweaty ! " 



138 HEALTH CHATS. 

This shows that the glands are always at 
work; but our garments allow the moisture 
to pass through them, because they are loosely 
woven, but rubber does not permit water to 
pass through it : hence, it is not well to wear 
rubber boots or any garment of like material, 
except when protection from bad weather makes 
it necessary. 

Now, it is highly important that the skin 
be kept clean, so that the little sweat tubes 
may always be in working order; in other 
words, that the pores of the skin should not 
be choked up with foul matter. 

Does this sweat that passes out from our 
bodies, then, contain impure matter? Most cer- 
tainly ; and in this way, the skin performs a 
very active part in removing injurious, waste 
material from the blood. 

For although a drop of sweat looks like a 
drop of clear water, yet it contains carbonic 
acid and other substances that are harmful to 



HEALTH CHATS. 139 

health ; and a good many drops contain a 
large amount of poison. 

It is said that a " stoker " who feeds the 
furnace of an ocean steamer, often loses two 
pounds weight in one hour; and all this passes 
off in the form of sweat or " perspiration," 
( which is the more proper word to use ), 
through the pores of his skin. 

But while the little sweat tubes are able 
to pour out such a vast amount of waste 
material from the blood, they are also able to 
drink in or " absorb," as we may say, many 
substances, some of which are helpful, and 
others harmful. 

A physician, if he should have a scratch 
upon his hand, is very careful when he dresses 
a poisonous wound of a patient, lest the tiny 
tubes exposed in the scratch of his own hand 
drink in poison from the wound. 

There are some plants, you know, which 
you are afraid to touch because their poison- 



UO HEALTH CHATS. 

ous sap is carried to your blood by the pores 
of your skin ; they make your hands itch ; such 
plants may cause your hands to swell and to 
become very sore. And again there are people 
who take morphine (mor-fin) into the system by 
having it injected under the skin where the pores 
absorb it. This is a habit that ruins the health, 
and soon causes the body to become a wreck. 

We should not only keep the body clean, 
by taking frequent baths, but we should be 
careful to wear clean clothing next to the skin ; 
otherwise, the little mouths of the sweat tubes 
may absorb some of the foul matter, that clings 
to an under garment which has been worn too 
long. 

It is always safer to wear flannel next to 
the skin in winter ; and, in cold climates, a thin 
flannel garment should be worn even in 
summer time. 

But, while the tiny pores of the skin drink 
in substances that are harmful to the blood, 



HEALTH CHATS. 141 

they also absorb much that is helpful to every 
part of the body ; and while they allow car- 
bonic acid gas to pass out, thus freeing the 
blood of its impurities, they also take in a 
large amount of oxygen. 

It is for this reason that the skin is some- 
times called the third lung; and, if it is kept in 
proper order, it is, indeed, a great helper of the 
lungs. 

Now, since we know this, we will be more 
careful than ever to live in the open air, will 
we not ? 

And we will be very sure to take frequent 
baths, to wear clean under garments, and to 
rub the body briskly with a coarse towel, or 
with a flesh brush now and then, so as to keep 
the little pores in working order ; for, since 
nature has provided us with such a perfect 
covering, we shall be greatly at fault if we do 
not try to take good care of it. 





THE EYE. 






. Part I. 




pupa 


monarch 


intense 


transparent 


expansion 


concave 


cornea 


retina 


convex 


iris 


focus 
irregular 


spectacles 



I once read a story about a powerful 
monarch who kept five of his servants busy 
all the time, telling him what was going on 
in his kingdom. 

The strangest part of it was that he could 
understand perfectly well what was said by 
each one of them, even when they' all spoke 
together ! 

Now, we may look upon the brain as the 
monarch or ruler of the body, whose five 
watchful servants are the organs of taste, 
sight, smell, hearing, and feeling. 



U2 



HEALTH CHATS. 143 

We have already learned a little about 
four of these special organs, and now we will 
try to find out something about the most 
beautiful and the most wonderful of them 
all. 




DIAGRAM OF THE EYE. 

A, Cornea; B, Iris; C, Lens; D, Choroid or second coat; E, Retina. 

Here is a little diagram of the eye ; let us 
examine it carefully. We may not be able to 
learn all about its different parts ; but we may 
learn how to take care of it, so as to protect it 
from injury. 

The eyeball is a very delicate organ, as 
you know; but it is so safely lodged in a deep, 



144 HEALTH CHATS. 

bony socket of the skull that it is quite " out 
of harm's way/' 

You will observe that it has three coats 
or coverings. The outside coat is called the 
" white " of the eye ; and you can see a portion 
of this coat (which is covered in front by a 
thin, transparent membrane), either by glanc- 
ing at the mirror, or by looking at the eyes of 
another person. 

This coat is strong and tough ; and 
fastened to it are several muscles that control 
the movements of the eyeball. 

The front part of this coat 
is shaped something like the 
crystal of a watch-face. It is 
very clear and transparent, so 
that the rays of light can pass 
readily through it into the eye. 
This transparent portion is called the 
" cornea," and just back of it is a little mus- 
cular curtain called the " iris," a word that 




FRONT PART OF EYEBALL 
SEEN FROM BEHIND. 



HEALTH CHATS. 145 

means rainbow. The rainbow, as you know, 
is made up of several colors ; and it is the iris 
that gives a particular color to a person's eyes, 
as black, brown, blue, gray, etc. You have all 
noticed how marked this is in a cat's eyes. 

In the center of this " rainbow " curtain is 
a round hole called the " pupil." The name 
" pupil " comes from a Latin word that means 
baby. When you look into the eyes of another 
person, you see there a small image of your- 
self — a baby-image, or pupa. By means of 
this iris, the pupil becomes smaller in a very 
bright light, and larger when the light is dim. 
You may notice this in the eyes of a person 
who comes from a dark room into a lighter 
one, or the reverse. 

Just beneath the outer covering of the 
eye is the second coat, which extends only to 
the border of the cornea. This coat is full of 
blood vessels, and abounds in pigment cells. 

Pigment, you know, is another name for 



146 HEALTH CHATS. 

paint; you learned all about that in your 
lesson on the skin. This paint, or pigment, 
as we will call it, protects the eye from being 
pained with too strong a light; as when we 
look upon a very white surface, such as a 
sandy beach, a snowy landscape, or even upon 
a building that has been painted white. 




PIGMENT CELLS IN SECOND COAT OF EYE. 



You know how a bright sunlight often 
dazzles your eyes, but it would be almost 
blinding to you without this dark pigment 
coat, which softens, as it were, these intense 
rays of light. You really would be no better 
off than the owls that have to My about at 
night, because they lack the protection of this 
coloring substance. 



HEALTH CHATS. 



147 



The third, or inner coat of the eyeball is 
a very thin, delicate membrane, formed by the 
expansion or spreading out of the large nerve 
of the eye. 




DIAGRAM, SHOWING LARGE NERVE OF THE EYE. 

A, Optic nerve; B, Eyeball. 

This nerve leads from the brain, and 
passes through a small opening of the bony 
socket in which the eye is set. It pierces 
also both the outer and the second coats of 
the eyeball, and then spreads out so as to form 
the third or inner coat. 

You may as well learn the name of this 



148 HEALTH CHATS. 

inner coat right here. It is called the retina 
{ret-i-nd), a name that signifies a net ; and it is 
well named too ; for the large nerve of the eye 
is spread out at the back part of the ball like 
a thin, gauzy network. 

There are certain parts of the eyeball that 
have the power of bending or changing the 
direction of the rays of light which enter the 
pupil, so as to bring them to a focus upon 
the retina ; the cornea is one of the parts that 
possesses this power in a considerable degree. 

But in some cases there may be an excess 
of this power, and in others, there may be a 
lack of it. In either case, glasses are needed 
to correct the fault. These glasses that are 
set into spectacle frames are called lenses. 

Now, in order to see an object, the rays of 
light that are reflected from it through the 
pupil must meet at a point on the retina in 
order to form a perfect image in the eye ; this 
point is called the focus. 



HEALTH CHATS. 149 

But it sometimes happens that a person's 
eyeball is too long; and in such a case the 
rays of light meet before they reach the focus, 
so that no very clear picture of the object can 
be formed upon the retina. 

We may say of such a. person that he is 
" near-sighted," and, in order to help his sight, 
he must wear concave glasses that will cause 
the rays to meet at the proper point. 

Again, the eyeball may be too short ; then 
the rays of light reach the retina before they 
come to a focus, so that no clear picture can 
be formed without some effort ; and yet the 
person may not know that he is making an 
effort at all. 

In fact, he is " straining " his eyes to see 
without knowing it. 

We say of such a person that he is " far- 
sighted," and he also must wear spectacles to 
remedy the defect. 

But in this case convex glasses must be 



150 



HEALTH CHATS. 



/IJ 



m 



worn. Here is a picture of two 
lenses ; one of them is convex and 
the other is concave ; you will see 
that they are shaped quite dif- 
ferently. 

There is another condition in 
nvexB Concave - which the sight is said to be 
irregular. This happens when some of the 
rays of light are brought to the proper point 
upon the retina, while others are not. In fact, 
the use of spectacles is needed in all cases 
where there is any difficulty in seeing. 



A. Conv 



membrane 
frequently 
considerable 
excess 



distressed 
sufficiently 
filmy 
interlace 



THE EYE. 
Part II. 
spectacles 
lenses 
cornea 
twilight 

Some people have formed a habit of hold- 
ing an object very near the face in order to 
examine it closely ; and it is believed by some, 
that this practice will in time cause the eye 
to become " long-sighted." Be that as it may, 
it is an awkward habit, and should be avoided. 

Children who find it necessary to hold a 
book near to the face, or who partly close the 
eyes when they read, in order to see better, 
should have their eyes examined by a phy- 
sician who makes the treatment of the eye his 
special w r ork ; for, generally, such children need 
glasses to help the sight. 



151 



152 HEALTH CHATS. 

Sometimes children complain of headache, 
day after day, and very often they are obliged 
to stay away from school on account of it, and 
thus fall behind in their lessons. All this is 
frequently due to a defect of sight, that a pair 
of properly chosen glasses might easily remedy. 

The eye is indeed a wonderful organ, and 
we cannot take too much pains in the care of 
it. I have often seen people sitting in their 
rocking-chairs, reading, hour after hour, and 
rocking while they read. Thus the printed 
page moves backward and forward at unequal 
distances from the eyes, and, in this way, the 
eyeballs, striving to accomodate themselves to 
the moving object and varying distance, be- 
come strained and weakened. There is the 
same danger in reading upon the cars, in a 
swinging hammock, or in any place where the 
body is in constant motion. 

Reading at twilight or by aid of a dim 
light is also harmful to the eyes ; and many 



HEALTH CHATS. 



153 



people injure their sight, beyond help, in this 
way. 

One should never face the light when using 
the eyes closely ; on the contrary, the light 
should fall, either from behind or from the left 
side. When writing, it is always better to 
have the light fall from the left side, as the 
shadow from the hand will then not be in the 



way. 



^^&^ 




DIAGRAM OF EYE. 

Showing tear glands to the right. 



Do you sometimes shed tears when you 
cannot pass your examinations, or when you 
are greatly disappointed about something ? 



154 HEALTH CHATS. 

Do you know where these tears come from 
that stream down your cheeks when you give 
way to weeping? There is a gland in the hard, 
bony socket of the eye that holds these tears. 

This gland is ever active, so that the eye- 
ball is always kept moist ; and, as fast as the 
fluid is poured out, it is carried off into a tube 
that leads to the nose ; but when we are greatly 
moved, either by sorrow or by joy, the gland 
pours out more fluid than the tubes can well 
dispose of, and then it is that the eyes over- 
flow with tears. 

It is not known that this ever happens to 
the lower animals, although the statement has 
been made that a mother bird sometimes sheds 
tears when robbed of her young. I have seen 
birds so distressed when this cruel thing has 
been done, that I am inclined to believe that 
birds may shed tears. 

It is said that the eyes of a fish are not 
supplied with tear-glands, as the water in 



HEALTH CHATS. 155 

which they live keeps the eyeballs sufficiently 
moist. 




EYE OF INSECT (MAGNIFIED.) 



The sense of sight in the insect world is 
very keen. The common house-fly appears to 
have but two small organs of sight ; but these 
small organs are made up of thousands of still 
smaller ones ; and it is the same with the eyes 
of nearly every insect. 

The eyes of the lower animals are very 
much like our own ; but horses, birds, toads, 
frogs and some others, have a third eyelid, 
which they can draw quickly over a portion of 
the front part of the eyeball. This thin eyelid, 
although somewhat transparent, is filmy, or 
" cloudy " as we might say, and so these crea- 



156 HEALTH CHATS. 

tures can bear a very strong light. It is on 
this account, that the sharp-eyed eagle is able 
to look at the sun ; but this membrane gives 
to the organ of sight a " blear-eyed " appear- 
ance, and, as the sun's rays cannot pass easily 
through it, it really serves as a thin veil of 
protection to the sight.- 

Look in a mirror, and you will see, on 
the inner corner of either eye, a small, pink 
fold of very thin membrane. This is an im- 
perfect, third eyelid of your own, which cannot 
be drawn over the eye, and for which we have 
no use. 

Have you ever thought how odd your 
face would look if you had no eyebrows? I 
am quite sure that you would miss them, if by 
accident they should disappear ; for they really 
serve to shade the eyes when in a strong light ; 
and, yet, there is a certain tribe of Indians that 
shave off both the eyebrows and the eyelashes, 
because, as they say, they do not want to look 



HEALTH CHATS. 157 

like horses ! Moreover, they often paint the 
eyelids black, in order to add to their beauty. 

Have you ever observed that the eye- 
lashes of your upper lids curve upward, while 
those of the lower lids curve downward ? 
Were it not so arranged, it might not always be 




DIAGRAM SHOWING MUSCLES OF THE EYE. 



easy to open and close the lids, as the lashes 
might interlace. 

In fact, the organ of sight is carefully pro- 
tected in many ways. Strong muscles are 
fastened to the outside coat that aid in turning 
the eyeball in several directions; the tear-gland 
keeps it moist, the eyebrow shields it from too 
much light ; the lids serve as a safe covering 



158 HEALTH CHATS. 

during the hours of sleep ; the eyelashes pre- 
vent dust from getting under the lids ; and a 
number of little oil-glands along their edges 
soften them to keep them in good condition. 

And since nature has done so much to 
protect this wonderful organ of sight, let us 
be very careful to guard it from injury. 



THE TEETH. 



inhabitants 
civilized 



tartar 
enamel 



unsightly 

discovered 



A set of strong well formed 
teeth is greatly to be prized; 
and yet there are people who 
do not seem to know the value 
of them ; for the inhabitants of 
some countries knock out the 
front teeth, because they do not 
want to look like dumb brutes ! 

Other savag*e tribes stain 

° STRUCTURE OF TOOTH 

the teeth black, blue, red and A( ^"L^ 

^^ C, Cement of fangs; D, Fib- 

even a bright yellow. They do lT^t^cJ^ Bony 
this because they consider it a disgrace to 
have " white teeth like dogs ! " 

Now, I am sorry to say that I often meet 
people, in our own civilized country, whose 
teeth are so dark that they look as if they had 

159 




160 



HEALTH CHATS. 



been stained in some way. This comes from 
neglect, for which there is really no excuse. 

If the teeth are not properly cared for, 
they soon become blackened by a crusty coat- 
ing called tartar. This crust is composed 
chiefly of lime and animal matter, mixed with 
the sticky fluid that supplies the glands of the 
mouth ; and this tartar, if left upon the teeth, 
soon causes them to decay. 





KINDS OF TEETH. 



Incisor. 



B'cuspid. 



Molar. 



" What can I do then, to keep this ugly, 
black tartar from spoiling my teeth ? " some 
one asks. You can keep your teeth entirely 
free from it, and it w r ill cost you but very little 
care. " How? " 



HEALTH CHATS. 161 

Be sure to brush your teeth well after 
each meal ; but let me warn you not to use a 
brush that is too hard and stiff; for it will 
wear off the smooth enamel or outside part. 

Be careful to remove small bits of food 
that lodge among the teeth : this is best done 
by passing a thread of fine, white silk between 
them. 

The mouth is always very warm, and par- 
ticles of food that remain between the teeth 
soon decay; this is not only injurious to them, 
but it affects the breath as well. 

As soon as a tooth begins to ache, it 
should be examined by a careful dentist; for it 
is a pretty sure sign that it needs filling ; and 
if a tooth is filled at the proper time, it will 
prevent further decay and do good service for 
years. 

Drinks that are either very hot or very 
cold are harmful to the teeth, as they are apt 
to crack the smooth coating of enamel that 



162 HEALTH CHATS. 

protects the teeth. Gnawing the finger nails, 
biting off threads, and cracking nuts with the 
teeth often injure the enamel, and 'even w r ear 
upon the substance of the tooth itself. 

It is unnecessary to add that the use of 
tobacco is harmful to the teeth and to all parts 
of the mouth, as it is indeed, to all parts of the 
body ; and how 7 unsightly does a person's 
teeth become when discolored by the use of 
of this vile weed ! 



THE HAIR. 



admires 

promoted 

scoured 



cleansing 

mixtures 

ammonia 



borax 

diluted 

calculated 




Every body admires 
a fine head of hair ; but 
in order that the health 
and growth of the hair 
may be promoted, it 
must receive a certain 
amount of attention. 

It is well supplied 
at its roots with nerves, muscles, blood vessels 
and oil sacs ; and if the scalp be kept in good 
condition, these busy little workers will perform 
their tasks well. 

The hair should be brushed and combed 
at least twice a day ; and great care should be 



HAIR, HAIR FOLLICLES AND GLANDS. 

A, epidermis; B, true skin; C, hair bulbr 
D, glands; E, muscle attached to hair 
sac- 



163 



164 HEALTH CHATS. 

taken as to the kind of brush that is used upon 
the scalp, — that is, it should not be too harsh. 

Some people have an idea that the scalp 
must be frequently " scoured " with certain 
cleansing mixtures, such as those that are 
made of borax or ammonia diluted with water. 

This is a mistake ; for these mixtures are 
too strong for the roots of the hair, and often 
bring on baldness ; it is well to wash the hair 
sometimes, with soft, warm water, and even a 
weak suds may be used ; but strong " soap- 
lather " is harmful. 

As I told you, in our lesson upon the 
skin, it is not necessary to daub oil and other 
forms of grease upon the hair ; for the tiny 
oil-sacs at the roots will attend to that. 

It is calculated that the hair grows in 
length about six inches during a year, and, 
with proper care, it may possibly grow still 
more in that time. 

Long hair is generally considered a mark 



HEALTH CHATS. 165 

of beauty ; .indeed even among savage tribes 
much pains is taken to promote its growth ; 
and it is stated that a certain Indian Chief had 
a head of hair that was nearly eleven feet in 
length. 

One would hardly wish to be burdened 
with hair as long as that ; but among these 
Indians, the man who could boast of the long- 
est hair was made Chief of the tribe ! 



THE NAILS. 



resemble 


scraping 


appearance 


seashore 


roughness 


untidy 


measure 


ornament 


finery 



If you look at the finger nails of an in- 
fant, you will see that they closely resemble 
the beautiful little pink shells that are to be 
found along the seashore. 

But as the child gets older, and learns to 
use his hands, his nails become somewhat 
hard and thick, and lose in a measure, their 
pretty pink color ; by proper care, however, 
they may be kept in very fair condition, even if 
the hands are busily employed most of the time. 

The use of a good brush is almost as 
necessary for the nails as it is for the teeth or 
for the hair; it keeps the under portion of the 
free edges clean, and gives to the upper surface 
a fine polish. 



166 



HEALTH CFIATS. 



167 



It is well to cut the edges with a pair 
of scissors or with a knife ; but it is still better 
to use a little file to keep them of the proper 
length. 

Scraping the upper surface of the nail is a 
bad practice ; for it not only makes the nail 
hard and stiff, but causes it to roughen still 
more, and destroys its polish. 





WEI L-KEPT NAILS. 



NEGLECTED NAILS. 



The nails are a protection to the fingers, 
and they should be an ornament ; but they too 
cften become unsightly by neglect. 

In fact, a lack of proper attention to the 
care of the teeth, of the hair, and the nails will 
give a person an untidy appearance that no 
amount of " finery " will conceal. 



MINERAL WATERS, 
doubtless Virginia Bohemia 



disturbed 


delicious 


Carlsbad 


relieved 


filtered 


Arkansas 


lithia 


substitute 


remedies 



Perhaps some of you may have been to 
some mineral or Healing Springs; and if so, 
you doubtless enjoyed sipping the water that 
bubbled and sparkled in the glass as you 
received it fresh from the earth. 

When you were there, did you drink at 
all the springs, and did you take large quanti- 
ties of it every day ? If so, it was really a very 
unsafe thing to do ; and it is a wonder that it 
did not make you ill. 

Why? Because most mineral waters 
contain medicine in some form, that quickly 
affect the stomach, the liver, the intestines and 
other parts of the body. 

169 



170 HEALTH CHATS. 

These medicines are not prepared by a 
druggist, it is true ; but they are composed of 
substances that are quite as strong as many of 
the drugs that the doctors order for people 
who are ill. 

Many of these mineral drinks are deli- 
cious ; but after all, there is nothing that we 
enjoy more than a cup of clear, cold water 
coming from a pure spring in its natural 
state. 

Why is it that we so often feel the need 
of a drink of water? You have already 
learned that the sweat glands take up, or " ab- 
sorb" as we say, a large quantity of water from 
the blood ; and when a great amount of perspir- 
ation passes off, as it always does on a hot day, 
the blood is robbed of its rightful share of 
water. 

Then it becomes too thick, and demands 
a new supply ; and this produces a feeling of 
thirst, which is generally relieved as soon as 



HEALTH CHATS. 171 

the blood receives its rightful share of water 



s j 



again. 



But you already know that there is really 
no need of taking much drink of any kind 
with your food, if you give the glands of the 
mouth a chance to do their work, by chewing 
your food slowly and well. 

In. Bohemia, a country of Austria, there is 
a great number of mineral springs; and some 
of them are even more famous than those at 
Saratoga. 

Look on your map and you will find in 
the north-western corner of Bohemia, the name 
Carlsbad ; (Karls-bot). This word means 
Charles's bath ; let us see why it is so called. 

There is a legend that the German Em- 
peror, Charles the Fourth, when on a hunting 
excursion one day, discovered a boiling spring 
flowing out of the cleft of a rock. Perhaps it 
would be more correct to say that the Emper- 
or's dog made the discovery ; for the poor 



172 HEALTH CHATS. 

animal tumbled into it and was badly scalded 
before he could be rescued from his boiling bath. 

That was more than five hundred years 
ago, and although it seems a very long time, 
yet it is asserted upon good authority that the 
springs of Carlsbad were discovered even 
before this incident occurred. 

Be that as it may, the Emperor built a 
palace near the spot, and the springs soon 
became noted as a healthful bathing resort ; 
for no person thought of drinking the water as 
a remedy for disease, until several years after- 
wards. 

But these waters really were found to pos- 
sess many healing properties that make them 
valuable; and in fact, we may say that all 
mineral waters if rightly used are helpful 
remedies for disease. 

Do you know what causes it to bubble 
and to sparkle in the glass as you hold it to 
your lips ? 



HEALTFI CHATS. 173 

It is the carbonic acid gas, with which it 
is charged, struggling to escape ; for strange 
to say, although this same gas is a poison that 
we fear to draw into the lungs, yet it may be 
taken into the stomach with perfect safety ; 
indeed, it often has a good effect upon the 
nerves of that organ. 

You have learned that the gastric juice of 
the stomach acts upon the food that enters it 
so as to change it into blood. Now it has 
been found that carbonic acid gas often helps 
to increase this supply of stomach juice; it 
also has a soothing effect upon the nerves of 
the stomach and aids somewhat its move- 
ments in " churning " and shaking up the food 
that it contains. 

So on the whole, the drinking of a moder- 
ate quantity of mineral water often proves to 
be a good thing, as it assists in the process of 
digestion. 

But right here let me tell you a little 



174 HEALTH CHATS. 

secret. It is this: people who live on plain, 
wholesome fare, such as brown bread, fruits, 
vegetables, milk and a moderate amount of 
meat, seldom find it necessary to resort to 
mineral springs in search of health. 

It is said that the Hot Springs of Arkan- 
sas and of many other similar resorts in our 
own country, are thronged with people who 
have never learned how to live. 

There is an old adage that people must 
" live and learn ;" but if they do not learn how 
to obey the laws of health then must they 
learn to suffer pain. 

It sometimes happens that we inherit 
disease from our parents, or it may be, from 
our grand-parents, and in that case we are not 
to blame for being ill ; but it is safe to say 
that much bodily suffering comes from a dis- 
regard of the laws of health. 

Many an invalid is warned by his physi- 
cian to abstain from tobacco and from strong 



HEALTH CHATS. 175 

drinks; but he is such a slave to his appetite, 
that he continues to puff away at his cigars, 
and to pour strong coffee, tea and even alcohol 
in various forms, into his stomach, until his 
system becomes so clogged with poison that 
medical treatment has no effect ; and then he 
complains of dyspepsia ! 

The most common rules laid down for 
invalids at the various health resorts, are 
these : — A plain, wholesome diet, — frequent 
baths, — plenty of sunshine, — and moderate 
exercise in the open air. But why may we 
not observe these simple rules at home? 

It is a pleasant thing to travel, either in 
our own country or in a foreign land ; and 
there is great enjoyment and much knowledge 
to be gained by it ; but without the blessing 
of health there is little pleasure to be found 
anywhere. 



THE HAUNTED HOUSE. 



Part I. 



The New House. 

continued haunted regulated reserved 

repairs architect stationed interrupted 

tenement enlarged guest studio 

Gothic portico suite festooned 

advertised ventilators queried hobgoblins 

" Dear me ! " groaned Uncle Jacob Ross, 
dropping into his armchair and placing his 
walking-stick within easy reach of his hand. 

" Dear, dear me ! and to think that there 
is no help for it now, no help at all ! " he con- 
tinued, with another groan. 

" What is the matter, Uncle Jacob ? " 
asked little Nettie, tumbling Pussy over and 
over on the floor under her feet, in her eager 

177 



178 HEALTH CHATS. 

haste to reach the high-backed armchair in 
which Uncle Jacob was sitting. 

" Not anything that you can help, child," 
replied her uncle, in a weary tone. " I was 
only thinking of an old house of mine that 
is just ready to tumble down." 

" Oh, is that all ? " answered the little girl, 
11 I was afraid that you were very ill." 

" Indeed, it is quite enough to make me 
ill," said the old man, " when I remember that 
the fault is all my own, and that I might have 
kept the building in fine condition if I had 
tried ; but now it is too late even for repairs," 
he added, with a sigh. 

" Is it the little brown cottage that you 
gave Widow Dart 'cause her son was killed 
in the coal mines last summer?" inquired 
Nettie. 

" No, my pet, not that; it is a much 
poorer tenement than that, I can promise you." 

" Is it the old house by the bridge, that 



HEALTH CHATS. 179 

you rented to Harry Jones about a year ago? " 

" No, not that either ; guess again, my 
dear." 

" Well, then, it must be that great, lone- 
some farm-house in the country, that you 
advertised for sale the other day." 

" Nettie," said the old man, in a solemn 
tone, " the house of which I am speaking is in 
such a very bad condition just now that it is 
not fit to sell, to rent, nor yet to give 
away. 

" In fact, no one could even be hired to 
live in it ; for the wretched old castle is 
haunted, and it has been haunted these 
twenty years." 

" Haunted, Uncle, haunted by real spirits, 
real ghosts ! " cried Nettie, with wide opened 
eyes^ 

" Yes, child, real ghosts roam through and 
through the house every day," said her uncle, 
gravely. 



180 HEALTH CHATS. 

" Oh, do tell me all about it," she ex- 
claimed ; and then stopping short she added, 
" But I thought you did not believe in 
ghosts, you have told me that many and 
many a time/' 

" Ah, yes, my dear, but I am obliged to 
believe in these evil spirits, because I can see 
them, hear them, and even feel them for 
myself/' 

The old man smiled sadly as he spoke, 
and bade her take a seat near him, that he 
might tell her a strange but true story of 
the old, Haunted House. 

" When I was a very small boy/' he 
began, " so small, indeed, that I cannot re- 
member anything at all about it, this house, 
newly built, was given me to occupy as long 
as I lived. 

" It was planned by the greatest architect 
ever known, and I am bound to say that it 
was a fair dwelling then. 



HEALTH CHATS. 181 

" It was quite small, to be sure, and it 
had to be enlarged from time to time ; but 
it was very complete in all its parts. 

" Its timbers, at first, were composed of 
more than two hundred separate pieces ; but 
after a while thirty-two more small pieces 
w^ere added. 

" The entire building was supported by 
two stout columns or pillars, and it was well 
protected from the weather by over five hun- 
dred smooth clap-boards, each fitting nicely 
the place for which it was intended. 

" These clap-boards were arranged in 
double layers, but sometimes there were four 
or five layers, and even more, placed one 
above another." 

" Did they look just like the clap-boards 
on the sides of our barn?" enquired Nettie. 

" No, they did not look like them," replied 
her uncle, " but they were arranged something 
in the same way that the boards on the barn 



182 HEALTH CHATS. 

are placed, or clapped over one another ; and 
that is why I call them clap-boards" 

u And did this fine house have a pretty 
portico, and was it all covered with morning- 
glories and vines ? " 

" There was a small portico in front of 
the upper story of the dwelling, and I dare 
say there were plenty of flowers and. vines 
everywhere about, in those days," answered 
Uncle Jacob, smiling sadly, as he stroked the 
sunny ringlets of his little niece. 

" But this portico was quite a different 
thing from the one that you have in mind, 
my dear," he said. 

" This one had two doors that opened 
into passages leading to all the apartments 
in the upper story, as well as to a music 
hall below ; but the main entrance to the 
music hall was a wide door, just below the 
portico, which opened upon one of the most 
wonderful organs that was ever made." 



HEALTH CHATS. 183 

" How I do wish that somebody would 
give me such a fine house," said Nettie. 
" What good care I would take of it always." 

Her uncle shook his head and said, 
" Wait a little, my dear, wait a little. 

11 The middle story of my dwelling con- 
tained two large rooms of nearly equal size, 
with a broad hall between them which had 
several openings leading into narrow, winding 
passages connected with every part of the 
mansion. 

" These two rooms of the middle story 
were well supplied with ventilators in various 
forms, which, if they were properly regulated, 
would admit a constant and plentiful supply 
of fresh air, during any season of the year." 

" And did you live in that house all alone, 
uncle?" asked the little girl. 

" I was about to tell you, my child, that 
in every hall and apartment of this beautiful 
dwelling, there were servants stationed to 



184 HEALTH CHATS. 

serve their master's bidding at a moment's 
notice. 

" In the upper stories of the house there 
were two guest-chambers ; one of them was 
somewhat larger than the other, but both of 
them were furnished in delicate colors of gray, 
pink, and white, and each of the chambers was 
double, forming a suite of ante-rooms. " 

" Oh, I wish that I could have had those 
pretty rooms, all to myself," said Nettie, clap- 
ping her hands with delight. "Tell me, Uncle, 
did you ever have any company to stay with 
you all night?" 

" Yes, yes, I had a good many visitors, I 
can promise you ; and very amusing it was 
to study the make-up of some of them." 

" And what were they like ? " queried the 
child. 

" It would not be easy to answer that 
question, my dear; for some were grave and 
some were gay ; some w T ere worthy of the 



HEALTH CHATS. . 185 

welcome that I gave them, and I am sorry 
to say that some of them were no better than 
they ought to have been. 

" But the front rooms of the mansion were 
always reserved for the highest class of visit- 
ors, and they were at liberty to remain as 
long as they pleased. " 

" And did you have books and pictures, 
and all that?" interrupted the child. 

" There was plenty of space for a fine 
library and studio," replied the old man, " but 
I am ashamed to say that I allowed the 
library shelves to become covered with dust 
and mold, and the studio was often festooned 
with unsightly cobwebs." 

" But which room did you like best of all, 
Uncle?" 

"I believe I liked the dining hall best; 
for its tables were always loaded with every 
luxury of the season; and just here, is where 
the story of the hobgoblins begins." 



tottering 
amazement 
neglected 
including 



THE HAUNTED HOUSE. 
Part II. 
The Hobgoblins. 
frightful reservoirs vestibule 
squirmed stalked succession 
handsomely scythe terrified 
utensils vestige writhe 

" Oh, I am so glad that you are going to 
speak about the ghosts," said Nettie, " do tell 
me, Uncle, what happened first." 

" Ah, very well, I will tell you. At first, 
strange noises were heard in the dining hall, 
and then frightful hobgoblins began to make 
their appearance, and finally they came right 
in, and boldly seated themselves at the very 
head of the table." 

" And did they eat right off the plates, 
just like real people ?" queried the little girl. 

" Not they," answered the old man. 



186 



HEALTH CHATS. l 87 

11 On the contrary, they made all sorts of 
wry faces at me, and twisted and squirmed 
about, as if in great pain, every time they 
saw me eat a piece of rich mince pie, a nice, 
green pickle, a slice of fruit-cake, or a bit of 
sage-cheese. 

" In fact, I could not take a glass of wine, 
nor smoke a cigar after dinner, without seeing 
one or more of these ghosts making ugly faces 
at me." 

" Dear me ! " said Nettie, " how very dis- 
agreeable it must have been ; but why did you 
not order your servants to drive them out of 
the house ? " 

" I will explain that by and by ; I must 
tell you now about my nice little kitchen, 
situated just below the dining hall, and very 
handsomely furnished it was, too. 

"But I am obliged to admit that I allowed 
the kitchen utensils to be banged and battered 
about till they became hardly fit for use ; and 



188 HEALTH CHATS. 

some of them were so worthless, that I had to 
purchase very expensive substitutes in their 
stead. 

"Among this kitchen furniture, there w 7 as 
a pump, a churn, a grinding mill, a sieve, sev- 
eral nice reservoirs, drains, and a number of 
other articles, that if I could only have them 
now, bright and new as they were then, I 
would not part with them for any amount of 
money." 

" But the ghosts, Uncle, I want to Hear 
more about the ghosts," cried Nettie. 

" Ah, well, there was one old fellow, in 
particular, of whom I shall never lose sight ; 
for even at the present day, he often shakes 
the crumbling walls of the old building with 
his cries and groans of distress, every time 
there is a thaw, a rain-storm, or any signs of 
an east wind ; and all because I did not take 
care to keep him out of the house, when I had 
the power to do so." 



HEALTH CHATS. 189 

As Uncle Jacob uttered these last words, 
he groaned quite as loud as any unhappy 
hobgoblin could possibly have done. 

" Another gloomy spirit stalked through 
the upper story, and shut nearly all the light 
out of the beautifully fringed-curtained front 
windows, so that false window-lights had to 
be used in their stead. 

" One old hobgoblin, w T ho always carried 
a scythe on his arm, was in the habit of very 
slyly scraping the roof of the building, as if he 
were mowing grass. 

" He kept on at this business so long, that 
he finally destroyed every vestige of the hand- 
some cupola, so that the whole roof of my 
house was entirely bare of any ornament, 
whatever. 

" Then, there w 7 as a little imp who crept 
into the vestibule of the west entrance- 
chamber, and sent such a succession of 
shrieking, roaring sounds through every 



190 HEALTH CHATS. 

apartment of the upper story, that it was 
almost enough to craze one to be anywhere 
within sound of his voice. 

" Ah, but there was still another little 
torment even more sly than any of the others ; 
this one placed telegraph wires along every 
hall-way of the house ; and sometimes his 
sudden telegrams would shake the entire 
building, till it did seem as if it would fall 
to the ground. 

"This so terrified the servants that they 
became unable to control themselves, and 
they would often writhe and struggle in 
terrible agony." 

Here Uncle Jacob paused, and Nettie, 
finding that he did not go on, asked, " Uncle, 
do you feel able to walk with me to that old 
house of yours, I do so long to see a ghost ? " 

The old man motioned to her to pick up 
his walking stick, and rising to his feet by its 
aid, he said : 



HEALTH CHATS. 191 

11 Here is the old, tumble-down tenement, 
Nettie, miserable, tottering, and nearly ready 
to fall; it is called 'Uncle Jacob Ross." 

The child looked at him in amazement, 
and then exclaimed in a somewhat disap- 
pointed tone : 

" But you are not a house, Uncle. Who 
ever heard of a man being a house, with such 
elegant rooms and all that fine furniture ? " 

Her uncle gravely replied: 

" I heard a little girl say this morning 
that she. hated her Physiology, that it was a 
very dull book, and she could see no use in 
studying its dry, old lessons. 

11 I felt very sorry to hear her talk in this 
manner ; for I knew that she did not value the 
nice little house that had been given her to 
dwell in, and that if she lived to be old, she 
would be sorry that she had not taken better 
care of it. 

" Although I have sadly neglected to take 



192 HEALTH CHATS. 

care of the beautiful mansion which the Good 
Architect built for me, I want my little niece 
to be wiser than I have been, so that in her 
old age she may have a better house to live 
in than I possess. 

" And now I will tell you, my dear, how a 
man may be a house. 

" First, can you tell me how many bones 
there are in the body, including the teeth ? " 

" Two hundred and forty/' answered 
Nettie, promptly. 

" Right. Now the stout, solid timbers 
of the house are the bones ; they form the 
framework of the building. 

" Many of these bones are round and 
hollow ; but they are very strong and solid, 
withal. 

" Now can you name the three principal 
bones of the legs ? " 

" They are called the femur, the tibia, and 
the fibula, " said Nettie. 



HEALTH CHATS. 193 

" Right again," said Uncle Jacob, gently 
patting the little girl's curly head. 

" Well, the strong, upright columns or 
pillars of the house are the legs, composed of 
the femur, the tibia, and the fibula. 

" The rest of the framework is made up, 
first, of the backbone, or spinal column, — how 
many pieces or joints has the backbone?" 

" Twenty-four," said Netty, " and twenty- 
four ribs are fastened to that." 

" Ah, we are getting on bravely," cried 
Uncle Jacob. " We shall soon have the 
framework of the house completed. 

" We must not forget the sternum or 
frontal bone, which is held in its place by 
these twenty-four ribs, twelve on each side, 
fastened at the back to the spinal column. 

"And the arms, what shall we call them?" 

" The wings of the house," replied Nettie. 

Her uncle laughed. " Well, they are 
wings, truly enough," he said, " and so we 



194 HEALTH CHATS. 

will call them the right and the left wings 
of the building. 

" The smooth clapboards, covering and 
protecting this wonderful framework, are the 
muscles, five hundred or more in number. 

" The upper story is the head ; the front 
windows are the eyes, and the fringed curtains 
are the eyelids. 

" The three-cornered cavities at the open- 
ing of the canals of the ears are the vestibules 
to the entrance-chambers of the upper story. 

" The small portico is the nose, and its 
two doors are the nostrils ; the wide door 
below is the mouth, opening upon that won- 
derful organ of speech, the tongue; the musical 
gallery is the larynx, or organ of the voice. 

" The two airy parlors are the lungs ; and 
their ventilators or air-passages admit a pint 
of air at every drawing in of the breath. 

" The broad hall which connects these 
parlors is the heart, the several openings of 



HEALTH CHATS. 195 

which are the blood-vessels ; and these vessels 
have curious valves, which act as trap-doors, 
whenever occasion requires/' 

" Oh, yes, I have learned about the little 
valves of the heart," said Nettie, " and now I 
can plainly see that they do act like small 
trap-doors, in keeping the blood from rushing 
back after it has once passed through the 
openings. 

" But the servants, tell me about them; 
they must each have a name of their own." 

" Yes, these faithful servants each have 
a name and a place in the house ; they are 
called the nerves, and there are two sets of 
them, — nerves of motion, and nerves of sen- 
sation or feeling ; and now if you will bring 
pussy to me, I will show you how well these 
servants know their business." 

" Oh, now we will have a real lesson in 
Physiology," said Nettie, " and pussy, you 
shall be one of the class." 



THE HAUNTED HOUSE. 

Part III. 

The Lesson. 

obeyed cerebellum festooned proceeded 

immediately cer'ebrum alimentary presiding 

lodgement hemisphere moderately neuralgia 

imagination ignorance discharged intruder 

Nettie brought the cat at once and placed 
it on her uncle's knee. 

" Put your finger in her mouth/' said 
Uncle Jacob. 

Nettie obeyed, but she immediately with- 
drew it, for pussy gave it quite a sharp bite. 

" That is right, pussy understands what 
I want," said her uncle, smiling. " And the 
little servants in your house understand their 
business, too. 

" Now, the brain is the seat of sensation 

196 



HEALTH CHATS. 197 

and of motion : and when you put your finger 
in Pussy's mouth, just now, the servants of 
sensation, or feeling, that run through the 
muscles of your hand, sent a message to 
the brain that she was biting your finger. 

" Then the servants of motion received 
an order from the brain to take your finger 
out of her mouth. 

11 1 have already told you about the two 
guest-chambers, in w r hich so many different 
travelers find lodgement. 

" These chambers are the divisions of the 
brain. Can you tell me the names of them?" 

" The smaller chamber is the cerebellum, 
or little brain, and the front chamber is the 
cerebrum, or large brain," answered Nettie. 

" You manage the hard names in your 
Physiology very well, my dear, and I hope 
that, after to-day, you will have a better idea 
of w^hat they mean. 

" But I must tell you that each of these 



198 HEALTH CHATS. 

brain-lobes contains two divisions or halves, 
called hemispheres, and these are the ante- 
rooms of each guest-chamber, the pretty rooms 
so handsomely tinted in gray, pink, and white." 

" I know, now, who are the visitors that 
come to those pretty rooms," said Nettie, 
" they are our thoughts. Am I not right, 
Uncle?" 

" Perfectly correct," replied the old man, 
and I think that you have an idea now of 
what the library and the studio may be ; but 
I will make it a little clearer to you. 

" You know that we often put things 
carefully away on a shelf in the closet, so 
that we shall know just where to find them. 
Now, memory and imagination form a sort 
of library in the brain ; and if we do not 
store up the knowledge which we gain from 
day to day, the shelves of this library of the 
brain are left empty, and its walls become 
festooned with the cobwebs of ignorance. 



HEALTH CHATS. 199 

" And now let us visit the dining hall, 
that favorite room of the house ; this hall is 
really the alimentary canal which conveys our 
food to the churn or stomach. 

" The stomach is properly a churn, for 
as soon as a mouthful of food reaches it, it 
begins to shake and to churn it ; until it be- 
comes fine enough to be carried in another 
form, to the different parts of the body. 

" This stomach, when moderately filled, 
is about twelve inches in length, and about 
four inches in diameter. 

" It should not be crowded all the time, 
by stuffing it between meals, otherwise it 
will wear out ; it should be allowed to rest, 
at least, three hours between each meal. 

" Eating between meals will wear out 
anybody's stomach, sooner or later, and then 
bad-tasting medicines must be used in order 
to make the food digest properly/' 

Here Nettie drew from her deep pocket 



200 HEALTH CHATS. 

a handful of crackers and ginger-snaps and 
threw them at the cat. 

Uncle Jacob did not appear to notice this 
rattling discharge of pastry, but went on. 

" The strong grinding-mill is the teeth,- — 
was the teeth," he added, tapping his upper 
false set with his finger. 

" But when I w r as young I used to eat 
candies, and crack nuts in my grinding-mill, 
and now I have to use a set of false grinders 
to atone for it." 

Just as he finished the last sentence, there 
was another heavy volley discharged toward 
pussy. 

This time the shot and shell were com- 
posed of walnuts and peppermint drops, which 
pussy rolled about upon the floor, entirely 
ignorant of their use ; for she had never tasted 
such dainties as these. 

The old man proceeded : 

" Although the heart is not located just 



HEALTH CHATS. 201 

where I placed the kitchen of this bodily 
dwelling, yet it is closely connected with it. 

" And by its wonderful valves, some of 
which are worked by slender, white cords, 
fastened to stout columns of flesh within the 
walls of the heart, it acts as a forcing pump, 
while the liver and the various glands and 
membranes of the body serve as reservoirs. 

" The drains of this dwelling are the 
kidneys, liver, lungs, intestines, and sweat- 
glands or pores of the skin. 

" Physiology teaches us how to keep all 
these little drains clean and open, so as to 
preserve our bodies sound and well/' 

Again Uncle Jacob paused, and Nettie, 
eager to hear more about the hobgoblins, cried 
out, " But the ghosts, Uncle, the ghosts ; tell 
me more about them." 

" I hope you may never have the misfor- 
tune to make their acquaintance/' said her 
uncle, gravely ; " but I will introduce you to 



202 HEALTH CHATS. 

a few of them, at a distance of fifty years 
away, at least. 

The presiding spirit in the dining hall is 
dyspepsia; the telegraph operator is neural- 
gia; the furious spirit that so much abhors 
the damp weather and the east wind is 
rheumatism/' 

Here the old man raised his right foot 
and gave it a little shake, as if to drive the 
bad spirit away ; then he continued : 

"The gloomy spirit who darkens the front 
windows is failing sight ; the intruder who 
steals into the west entrance-chamber is deaf- 
ness of the left ear. 

"The old fellow who scrapes off the 
cupola with his scythe, and leaves my pate 
bald, is Old Time. 

" And so I could name a half-dozen more 
of the tormenting spirits that roam through 
this poor, old haunted house of mine. 

" These are the only ghosts that ever 



HEALTH CHATS. 203 

visit this world ; and though you may fall 
in with some of them before you reach the 
end of life's journey, there is no need that you 
should encounter them all. 

" If you learn well the laws of health, and 
obey these laws, you will escape many of the 
ills that have fallen to my lot, and you will 
not be compelled to spend the weary years of 
old age in a Haunted House. 

" And now let us go to dinner ; and if we 
are careful to eat nothing but wholesome food, 
we shall have no hobgoblins to disturb our 
meal." 




NATURE STORIES. 

(ist Year Pupil. j 

L, Some of 

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Interesting stories of ani- 
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Nature Stories for Youngest Readers. 

By Anna Chase Davis. Boards, 30 cts.; Cloth, 40 cts. 

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Educational Publishing Co. I 
Gentlemen : — You are to be j 
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for Youngest Readers. Little 
children will get more from 
these than from the text, as j 
good as it is. 

Yours truly, 
Henry T. Bailey, 
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of Drawing, Mass. 




ANIMALS 
WILD andTAME 

ANNA CHASE DAVI5 



HISTORY AND PATRIOTISM. 
(3rd Grade.) 

Stories of 
Colonial Children. 

Every story has a child 
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The supply of supple- 
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grade or two in advance 
of this has been abundant. 
But Miss Davis is one of 
the few who have succeeded 
in writing to the children interesting matter. 

Chas. W. Deane, Suptn Schools, Bridgeport, Ct. 




HISTORY AND PATRIOTISM. 





American History Stories. 

By Mara L. Pratt, Author of Young Folk's Library of 
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Price, Boards, 36 cents each; Cloth, 50 cents. 

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UBR ARYqf 




Books for Young Folk's Libr* 



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